Jharkhand Police recover arms from Maoist hideouts in Lohardaga

Ranchi, Sep 21 (ANI): Jharkhand Police on Wednesday recovered explosives and ammunition from different Maoist hideouts in Lohardaga district.

In order to curb the Maoist activities, the police in the region had launched operation "Up Hills" and during the raids, they arrested a notorious Maoist, Bal Krishan Kherwal from his house.

"Special operation 'up hills' was conducted and two teams were formed. The team from Gumla was headed by superintendent of police of Gumla, and the Lohargadha team was headed by 0133 CRPF Vivek. In this joint operation from Lohardagha under 'Kisko Thana', from a jungle near Bulbul, we found a training camp and we have captured a Maoist called Bal Krishan Kherwal," said Sampat Meena, Deputy Inspector General, South Chota Nagpur.

The police raided a camp, from where they seized a large number of explosives and other ammunition like guns and bombs. A massive container, which had 100 kgs of explosives, was also discovered from the camp.

"From the house of the captured Maoist we have recovered country-made guns, and also we came to know about a training camp, and from that camp we have recovered lots of explosives. We have recovered containers, which had about 100 kgs of explosives. We also found muzzle-loaded guns, wires, bombs, and splinters," Sampat Meena added.

The recovery of arms and ammunitions on such a large scale has boosted the confidence of the police here as they carry incessant operations with an aim to root out the Maoists.

Maoist insurgency has spread to interiors of 20 of India's 28 states.

The guerrilla war, waged mostly from the forests of central and eastern India by ultras of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist, now poses the biggest internal security challenge, say analysts.

Hundreds of people have been killed and injured in the violence, perpetrated by both the rebels as well as security forces in counter operations.

Maoists have also significantly increased their presence in tribal and rural regions in the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa. (ANI)