Three cartons containing gelatin sticks, detonators and cordex wire hidden inside gunny bags were recovered during routine checking of vehicles on the Gauahati-Shillong Road in Dispur police station area here in the early hours today, City Senior Superintendent of Police A P Tiwari said.
The vehicle was coming from Meghalaya and its driver and only passenger have been detained for interrogation, Tiwari said.
The explosives, included 1800 packets of detonators, 30 packets of gelatin sticks and 12 packets of cordex wire rolls, Dispur police station officer Incharge said.
The driver of the vehicle told police that he was handed over the three cartons at Aizawl to be delivered at the ticket counter of a taxi stand in the Christian Basti area of Guwahati, police said.
The detained passenger claimed before reporters that he was not connected with the explosives as he had only boarded the share taxi as a passenger after buying a ticket to come to his home town here.
He also said that two other passengers travelling with him from Aizawl had got off at Silchar in Barak Valley of south Assam before the vehicle travelled onward through Meghalaya to reach Guwahati in the Brahmaputra Valley.
Police had intensified search operations after it received intelligence inputs yesterday that two youths possibly belonging to the ULFA(Independent) were planning to keep explosives in city buses.
Meanwhile, security has also been tightened in Imphal, capital city of Manipur, where Narendra Modi will be the chief guest at the 'Sangai Manipur Tourism Festival' on November 30, official sources said.
Police personnel attached to Imphal East and Imphal West districts have launched massive combing operation at Nahabam, Thumbuthong, Kwakeithel and nearby areas.
Meanwhile, a special team of special protection group (SPG) has arrived here and started reviewing the security measures taken up by the state government, the sources said.
'Sangai Manipur Tourism Festival', organised by state tourism department, is the biggest tourism festival in the state and it is named after Sangai, a rare brow-antlered deer, available only in Keibul Lamjao National Park in Bishenpur district of Manipur.
Participants from Myanmar, other south east Asian countries and different regions of the country are participating in the festival.