Odisha Police seize huge cache of arms from Maoist hideout

Odisha Police has recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from a Maoist hideout in Kalinganagar in the state's Jajpur District.

The inspector in-charge of the Kalinganagar Police Station disclosed this to the media on Wednesday.

He said the search operation was conducted on Tuesday and personnel of India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Special Operations Group (SOP) aided by Odisha Police conducted it.

The security personnel stumbled upon this catch of weapons in the Aradabala Forests on the Jajpur-Keonjhar border.

He also revealed that a Maoist named Ravi Murmu, has been nabbed and that he had been involved in criminal activities in the past as well.

Two 8mm guns, one 8mm pistol, 146 rounds of live ammunition, 100 aluminium detonators and seven boosters were recovered from the Maoist hideout, said inspector Kishore Chandra Mund.

Some Maoist propaganda literature was also recovered from the Maoist hideout.

He also said the investigation is in progress on the basis of the recovered items.

Maoist rebels stepped up attacks in many parts of India as a mark of retaliation to government offensive against them.

The movement, which started as a peasant revolt in eastern state of West Bengal in 1967, operates across a 'red corridor' stretching from the Nepal border to West Bengal and through central India into Andhra Pradesh.

The rebels are armed with automatic rifles, shoulder-fired rockets, explosives and mines and they now number an estimated 22,000 combatants.

The Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and the disenfranchised lot but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the insurgency as the biggest internal security challenge. (ANI)