Ammonium nitrate seized in the Philippines

Philippines police today arrested four men at a warehouse southeast of Manila as they unloaded more than 6,600lbs of ammonium nitrate without a licence.

Security has been stepped up following five bombings that have killed 21 people this month in the Southeast Asian country.

Ammonium nitrate, an agricultural chemical, can also be used to make bombs.

It was used in the explosions that killed almost 200 people this month in an attack on a nightclub on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

“We cannot discount the possibility that these ingredients are being used in making bombs,” military spokesman Major Jose Broso said.

The substance was supposed to be shipped from Bataan province to Taguig, a suburb of the capital, police said. Instead, it was delivered to a fertiliser warehouse in Lucena city, 70 miles southeast of Manila.

Police plan to charge the four with violating a law against transporting and selling fertiliser without a permit, said Romualdo Uy, a senior police officer in Lucena.