MANILA, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Philippine authorities have seized homemade explosives and equipment used for dynamite fishing in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, the military said on Tuesday.
The Philippine Navy said a team comprising personnel from multiple departments confiscated 46 bottles of improvised explosives containing ammonium nitrate, 50 commercial blasting caps, an eight-meter timing fuse, and a motorboat from the suspects during a maritime operation on Aug. 3.
The team launched the operation after receiving an anonymous tip that motorboats carrying the illegal explosives had set out to sea.
Three people on one of the two boats escaped, eluding arrest, leaving behind the boat loaded with the explosives.
Blast fishing, also known as dynamite fishing, is a highly destructive, illegal method of catching fish. It uses dynamite or other types of explosives to send shock waves through the water, stunning or killing fish, which are then collected and sold. ■
