Koraput: A Maoist arms and explosives dump was unearthed on Sunday from the dense forests along the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border under Kalimela police station limits. Acting on intelligence gathered during the interrogation of surrendered Maoists, the district voluntary force launched an intensive search operation in the forested areas. The operation led to the recovery of a large cache of arms, explosives and communication equipment hidden by Maoist cadres.The seized materials include two SLR rifles, two country-made pistols, a US-made pistol without a magazine, a .303 barrel, two improvised explosive devices weighing 2 kg and 5 kg respectively, a claymore mine, four BGL cells, cartridges, seven walkie-talkies, batteries, chargers, wires, detonator components, electronic storage devices, including 45 pen drives and a hard disk, besides several other items used for manufacturing and operating explosive devices.SP (Malkangiri) Vinod Patil said the recovered weapons and explosives are suspected to belong to Maoist cadres of Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee. “The recovery of this major dump has dealt another significant blow to the Maoist network. The arms, explosives and communication equipment were intended to target civilians as well as security forces. Our sustained operations, backed by actionable intelligence from surrendered Maoists, are ensuring that such hidden caches are systematically detected and neutralised,” Patil said.
