Quite a few extremist dens have been discovered by law enforcing and counterterrorism agencies across the country in recent times. We congratulate our law enforcers and counterterrorism experts for their most recent success in identifying and busting one such den in Jhenaidah, which was apparently being used as a bomb-making factory from where explosives were supplied to other militant dens. Consequently, the amount of bomb-making material that was discovered there is, indeed, concerning.

Besides a large number of handmade detonators, a pressure cooker bomb and a 7.65mm pistol, police also recovered 20 containers from the den, all filled with nearly 30 litres of hydrogen peroxide. According to bomb disposal experts, the material recovered could have been used to manufacture about 500 to 1,000 bombs the size of a grenade. Furthermore, they said that the chemical is locally available at a low price and is mainly used in laboratories at colleges or universities and big industries.

What is important for the authorities to find out now is how and from where the militants managed to procure such massive quantities of bomb-making material. Surely they must have obtained them in a planned way. Whereas small arms in the wrong hands are of course dangerous, what is perhaps even more dangerous because of their potential damage capacities are such small bombs and improvised explosive devices.

The authorities should thus make the procurement of such materials more difficult. Oversight in sales, purchases and uses of these items should be made a priority.