A large cache of spent shells of hand grenades and rocket launchers believed to have been used by the LTTE in the 1980s have been unearthed recently in Tamil Nadu.

The finding was reported from a reserved forest at Kolathur near Mettur in Salem district on last week, nearly three decades after the Indian government aided the Tamil rebels with arms training in different parts of Tamil Nadu.

It is believed that Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and his cadres had used this Kolathur camp for training purpose during 1984-86. According to media reports, this was the largest facility in India which trained the LTTE.

Forest officials digging to plant saplings found a large black drum containing spent shells of 245 grenades and 28 rockets in the reserved forest at Kolathur. According to reports, workers hired to dig the place expected the drum to contain a long-buried shell and were deeply disappointed, even a bit scared, when it revealed the ammunitions.

“That is the area where the LTTE cadres along with Prabhakaran were trained between 1984 and 1986,” Kolathur Mani, a Tiger sympathiser, has told Deccan Herald. He has claimed that he had witnessed the rebels training.

Forest and police teams searched the area to check if more such arms-dumps existed but none had been reported as of now.

Salem is a city located in the interior of Tamil Nadu, 340km south west of Chennai. Kolathur is in the Salem Department and is a village of about 10,000 people.