Weapons, explosives seized from Maoist dump along Odisha-Chhattisgarh border 

Security forces on Saturday busted a Maoist camp and seized a large cache of explosives from the hideout located inside the forests along the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border.

Acting on intelligence input about a Maoist hideout, a joint operation by the Border Security Force (BSF) and District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel led to this major bust from within the dense Sonpur-Kohka Meta forest of the Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh. 

As per reports, security forces ventured deep into the forest for a search operation after intelligence reports detailed Maoist activity in the area. On spotting the advancing personnel, the Maoists reportedly fled the camp, leaving behind several items.

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The special team personnel then raided the dump and seized a gun manufacturing lathe machine, gas cylinders for welding, solar panels, and various explosive materials.

It is suspected that the camp was being used by Maoists for assembling firearms and preparing explosives in the canopy of the dense forests that were then perhaps utilized for carrying out attacks across several locations.

The discovery of this camp comes after the discovery of two such Maoist dumps in the Boudh district of Odisha in November. The raids had taken place in the Bahabalakhol Reserve Forest area under Manamunda police station limits and on another spot located about 3 km east of it.

Security forces had then seized several Maoist articles including detonators, wires, mobile chargers, walkie-talkies, radio antennae, batteries, and grocery items.

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Similarly, on August 31, the BSF busted a Maoist dump and seized huge quantities of explosives from beneath rock cavities inside the caves in the Bejangiwada Reserve Forest in Malkangiri district of Odisha.