JOIN USA police patrol spotted the vehicle in Masturi area in Bilaspur district, some 150 km from Raipur, and found bags of the chemical and bundles of detonator sticks, officials here at police headquarters told IANS.
"We have launched a probe into the recovery of explosives and the owner of the vehicle has been traced," said a police official who is part of the probe team but refused to give details. A red alert has been sounded in the state after serial blasts hit India's financial capital Mumbai Wednesday evening, leaving 17 people dead and 131 injured.
Police squads in Raipur and industrial towns of Bhilai, Raigarh and Korba carried out searches at railway stations, bus stands and hotels after the state government asked the police department to step up search drives at public places in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.