Basilan police confiscate materials for dynamite fishing
COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The police seized 200 kilograms of ammonium nitrate and components for dynamite fishing in an operation Sunday in the seaside Lantawan town in Basilan.
The components could also be used to make improvised bombs, authorities said.
Police Brig. Gen. Manuel Abu, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said Monday that Lantawan municipal police personnel, led by Police Capt. Said Omar Ismael, found the components for fishing explosives in a hut on a beach in Barangay Matikang.
Dynamite fishing is illegal in the Philippines and in most places in the world. The UN Environment Programme says the practice "is one of the most destructive forms of fishing because it indiscriminately kills any animal in the blast area—from fish eggs and plankton to whales and dolphins—and devastates corals."
Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman told reporters Monday he is grateful to the personnel of the Lantawan municipal police station for the immediate confiscation of the materials for fishing explosives.
"The seized materials and blasting charges for fishing dynamites can also be used as tactical explosives if it gets to the hands of terrorists. Good enough we don’t have them in Basilan anymore," said Salliman, chairperson of the provincial peace and order council.
Ismael said barangay residents had reported that a group of transient fishermen keeps dynamite in Sitio Hansipak Subah in Barangay Matikang.
Police recovered eight sacks of ammonium nitrate — sold as plant fertilizer but can be used in explosives — detonation primers and ignition fuses.
Abu said the seized materials are more than enough for improvised explosive devices that can flatten a five-storey building or destroy military vehicles.
He said he will issue a special citation for the Lantawan municipal police office for the feat.
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