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Missing > Inadequate bomb suit > No gloves > No helmet > No bomb blanket > Place has not been cleared of people > Bomb should have been put in a basket taken to a bomb trailer and defused there pic/ap

Watching TV reports of the 23 bombs being defused in Surat over two days, MiD DAY reporter Vinod Kumar Menon realised the cop from the Gujarat Bomb Disposal Squad seemed inadequately protected. But obviously, the cop in question had years of experience and it was difficult to believe he could be so amiss with safety. So, Vinod called the man who would be able to give the answers - Colonel (retired) Mahendra Pratap Choudhary (67), who raised and commanded the first anti-terrorist black cat commando force (now known as NSG) in 1982.  He spoke to us from his hotel in Singapore, shocked at the way police officers were defusing bombs in Surat.

Were the Surat bombs, defused correctly?
No. I'm alarmed at the way it was done. Frankly, it's a dangerous stunt. The area has to be evacuated - nobody is allowed within a periphery of 100 to 500 metres.

The person diffusing the bomb has to wear a bomb suit and spread a bomb blanket on the ground. He has to wear protective gloves. The bomb has to be placed in a special basket attached to a bomb trailer, carried to an isolated open area, and set off in a controlled explosion. None of these have been put in place in Surat.  The bombs could well have been booby traps. 

Have you come across bombs wrapped in attention-grabbing fluorescent plastic?
No, I haven't. But the motive could be to grab attention — attract curious onlookers who will approach the bomb — ensuring deaths and injuries. The blast can be triggered using a remote-controlled device.

Why were the bombs placed on trees and draped over billboards in Surat?
Obviously, to attain maximum casualties. When placed at heights, the shrapnel inside the bombs will have greater momentum and inflict maximum damage.

Is it a coincidence that of the 23 bombs found in Surat, not even one went off?
No, it's not a coincidence. It's possible that the person who made the bombs made a mistake, and the planters did not know about it.

Heard of Claymore Mines?

The bombs diffused in Surat look like Claymore Mines used by the US Army. The curved bombs are kept at a height of one to two feet from the ground and have about 500 pellets. They could injure people in the vicinity of 50 to 100 yards. For a deadlier effect, the bombs could have been planted on trees and billboards. Such mines can be easily assembled with local ingredients including explosives such as ammonium nitrate, backed by other initiating explosives like RDX or gelatin.