Security forces have recovered more than ₹65 lakh in cash, along with a large cache of arms, ammunition and explosives, from Maoist hideouts in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district during anti-Maoist operations carried out over the past two weeks, police said on Wednesday.
The recoveries were made during intensive search and area domination operations launched by teams of the district police, District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force (STF), Central Reserve Police Force and its elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action unit in remote and highly sensitive areas of the district.
Bijapur Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar Yadav said the operations were intensified after Chhattisgarh declared itself free from armed Maoist presence on March 31. Security personnel have since been conducting extensive searches across the Bastar region to trace weapons, explosives and cash hidden by Maoists over the years.
According to police, security forces, aided by local villagers and intelligence inputs, located several underground Maoist dumps in forested areas.
During the operations, personnel seized ₹65.52 lakh in cash from three separate dumps. A total of 32 weapons were also recovered, including one light machine gun (LMG), four self-loading rifles (SLRs), one carbine rifle, five .303 rifles, one .315 rifle, seven barrel grenade launcher (BGL) launchers, four 12-bore guns, an 8 mm pistol and other firearms.
The recovered ammunition included 33 live rounds for AK-47 rifles, 219 SLR rounds, 181 rounds for .303 rifles, 118 rounds for .315 rifles and 84 BGL shells. Explosive materials, machine components, tools and other daily-use items were also seized during the searches.
Police said that, with the latest operation, a total of 461 weapons have been recovered in Bijapur district over the past one-and-a-half years.
The SP added that nearly 40 kg of ammonium nitrate recovered from a Maoist dump in the forests of Kavargutta under the Pamed area, and another 100 kg of ammonium nitrate and urea recovered from the Indravati National Park area in recent days, were destroyed following safety protocols.
