Six men arrested for stealing silver-laced soil from Hindustan Photo Films factory in Nilgiris
Six individuals were arrested in the Nilgiris district for trespassing into a defunct photographic film factory to steal soil contaminated with silver nitrate. The factory, once a major industrial site, has been a target for illegal scavenging since it ceased operations in 2018.
Why it matters
The incident highlights the environmental and security challenges posed by abandoned industrial sites and the illicit trade of precious metal-laced waste.
The Nilgiris district police arrested six persons including the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s (TVK) branch secretary from Ward Number 2 in Udhagamandalam for trespassing into the defunct Hindustan Photo Films (HPF) factory premises and illegally transporting more than three tonnes of soil, believed to be laced with silver nitrate accrued when the plant was functional.
The factory, located at Indu Nagar along the Ooty-Gudalur Road in The Nilgiris, had been functional since 1960 during the tenure of then Chief Minister K. Kamaraj when it was built on 320 acres of forest land leased from the Forest Department. Equipped with extensive infrastructure and employing thousands of workers, it became one of South Asia’s most renowned photographic film manufacturing units. Black-and-white photographic films and X-ray films produced at the factory were exported to several countries.
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