Rocket fuel to be blown up

Bomb disposal experts are preparing to explode a large cache of rocket fuel at an arms range after authorities failed to sell it through international tender.

The 40 tonnes of highly explosive ammonium perchlorate was seized in April 1996 on a ship sailing from North Korea to Pakistan, possibly for use in a missile development programme.

It was offered for sale three months ago, but only to buyers who could obtain an export licence for it.

No responses were received, said the Government Supplies Department yesterday.

It has handed the volatile substance, in 200 boxes, back to the Customs Department which has informally sought advice from police experts on the safest way of disposing of the fuel.

It should be detonated in small quantities at a large range such as the military facility at Castle Peak, senior bomb disposal officer Dominic Brittain said. It would take about two weeks.