Nagpur: In sustained blows to residual Maoist infrastructure in the erstwhile headquarters of Abujmarh in central India’s Dandakaranya region, Gadchiroli Police and paramilitary forces recovered a series of arms dumps and busted three major weapon-fabrication factories over last three months, recovering weapons, 300 rounds of ammunition, manufacturing equipment and cash.The operations conducted between May and August 2026, relied on inputs from surrendered Maoists who pointed out secret locations or ‘dumps’ where guerrillas concealed arms, ammunition, explosives and bomb-making materials under forest floors, inside caves and other dens. Conducted jointly with Chhattisgarh police, the crackdowns were conducted at Binagunda, Kakur and Balebeda in a 575 sqkm radius of the forested Abujmarh hills.“These are aimed at preventing any regrouping of cadres in the erstwhile stronghold of Abujmarh, which straddles Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh,” said IG, State Anti-Naxal Operations, Sandip Patil.Police sources said the dumps — long used by Maoist formations to stockpile weapons and logistics — were systematically identified and unearthed. Operation Antim Prahar yielded the largest haul that included 51 weapons, 631 rounds of ammunition, 29 magazines, nine wireless sets, 63.84 lakh in cash and a range of daily-use Maoist material. Eight arrests were also made during the operation.On May 22, the Binagunda operation recovered a lathe machine, 21 BGL pipes, three claymore clamps, a 12-bore pipe, one solar panel, two inverters and four generators — clear evidence of an active fabrication unit.A joint operation with Chhattisgarh Police at Kakur on May 27 netted one INSAS rifle, magazines, rounds of .303 and SLR ammunition, another lathe machine, 50 BGL cells/shells and a BGL launcher.The Balebeda operation, conducted jointly with Chhattisgarh police on June 27, recovered a lathe machine, 150 Claymore/BGL-making pipes, 200 pipes for manufacturing 12-bore barrels and 20 metal rods. The most recent action, Kumnar Ops on August 1, recovered a SLR rifle, three magazines, three single-shot rifles, two BGL launchers, seven 12-bore rifles and a bottle IED.“This reflected a sustained degradation of the residual cadres’ logistics and manufacturing capability. The factories had been used to produce improvised explosive devices, barrel-loaded guns and other crude but lethal weapons that once sustained insurgency in the region,” said Gadchiroli SP M Ramesh, who was accompanied by addl SPs Karthik Madhira and Gokul Raj.Security forces also continued the systematic de-mining and sanitisation of Abujmarh. “So far, 50 square kilometres have been sanitised. The remaining area is being cleared in a phased manner to enable secure movement of security forces and development agencies,” added IG Sandip Patil.With major fabrication units dismantled and the dumps systematically cleared, the security establishment believes the residual Maoist network has been further isolated and weakened, leaving little room for a guerrilla comeback.
