MoD under pressure over plastic explosives blast

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The Ministry of Defence came under pressure yesterday to make an immediate check of its stocks following the discovery by police of a quantity of plastic explosives used by the armed services at a house in Brecon.

The find was made during an investigation into the cause of a blast at a house in the mid-Wales town on Monday night in which a man died and another was seriously injured.

A number of 8oz sticks of PE4 explosives were later recovered from the home of the injured man, a mile from the scene of the blast which police said was caused by 1lb of material.

Richard Livsey, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, said: "I am contacting the MoD demanding that it checks all procedures for the storage of explosives and the way it accounts for the use of these materials. An MoD spokesman said: "We will help the police in any way we can."