The Karnataka police, who are trying to end the Naxal menace in the Western Ghats, nabbed a Kerala-based businessman in Dakshina Kanna district on Friday for allegedly supplying explosive materials to Maoists.

It has been long suspected that a section of Keralites was supplying arms and ammunition to Naxals through the porous Karnataka-Kerala border in the coastal districts. The police recovered more than 50 kg of ammonium nitrate, a key ingredient in explosives, from his farm house in Durga Tellaur near Karkala. The value of the seized mateiral is said to be above Rs 5 lakh.

"Only miners, quarry owners and large farming firms are entitled to purchase ammonium nitrate. We are worried about stock being found in a farm house. We will interrogate him to ascertain the source of the explosive material," sources in the police said.

The accused has been identified as Biju TK from Kerala. Based on credible information, the police raided his farm on Thursday. Biju had taken the farm on lease from one Wilson, who also is from Kerala. However, Biju was not to be found at the farm when the police raided it. He was traced to a house in Manipal, Udupi district from he was arrested o Friday.

It is alleged that this is the third time that Biju was found stocking ammonium nitrate illegally. "He is politically well-connected and managed to obtain bail in the past. But this time, we will file strong charges against him after interrogation," the police added.

Biju was first arrested in Karkala by the Kerala Police in 2010. In March last year, the businessman was arrested for a second time for hoarding ammonium nitrate in Nakre Varnabettu.

In 2007, a person by name Biju was arrested at Ajekar for illegally stocking the explosive material. However, the police are not clear whether the person is the same Biju now in their custody.