Weapon manufacturing items buried in forest by Naxals recovered in Gadchiroli police op

Items used in the manufacture of weapons like lathe and drilling machines as well as pipes that were secretly buried by Maoists were recovered and destroyed in an operation of Gadchiroli police in Maharashtra, an official said on Saturday.

On May 16, during in-depth interrogation of Maoists who surrendered under 'Operation Antim Prahar', information was obtained that weapon manufacturing equipment and other items were concealed in the forest area of Pomkeng Binagunda, a Gadchiroli police release said.

''On May 21, under the guidance of Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police M Ramesh, special operation teams from Gadchiroli and Pranhita, six combined detachments, and two Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad teams were dispatched to carry out a search of the designated forest area,'' it said.

On May 22, a forest patch north of Pomkeng Binagunda was encircled and the BDDS teams carried out a thorough search, the release said.

''We recovered Maoist materials that included a lathe machine, BJ pipe sections, 12-bore pipes, an inverter, a generator, batteries, grinding/drilling machines, a jig saw machine, a pressure pump, a solar panel, and 20-foot football pipes etc. All recovered Maoist materials were destroyed on site with the assistance of the unit personnel,'' it added.

The release said Maoists tend to bury different types of weapons and explosive materials in forest areas in order to retrieve them later for use in attacks against security personnel during the outlawed movement's 'Naxal Week' and elections.

The Centre declared the nation free of armed Naxalites on March 31 this year, the feat being achieved after a relentless campaign against the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) in states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

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