Maoist camp busted; huge cache of arms recovered

Rourkela: A joint team of Rourkela Police and CRPF busted a Maoist camp inside Sanabalijor forest under K Balang police limits in Sundargarh district and recovered a huge cache of ammunition after an encounter with the Maoists this morning.

Talking to media persons here, RK Sharma, IG, Western Range, said acting on a tip-off that the Maoists are conducting a camp inside the Sanabalijor forest, a joint team of police and CRPF personnel began a combing operation in the morning.

During the operation, the Maoists suddenly opened fire at the security personnel, who retaliated immediately. After an hour-long crossfire, the Maoists managed to flee the area.

“During the search operation, we recovered 74 rounds of 9 mm live bullets, detonators and several Maoist articles from the camp. There were several other articles in the camp which we could not bring with us,” Sharma informed.

He said it had been observed that the Maoists are not able to stay in their camp for long due to frequent combing operation by the police and the CRPF personnel. Due to this reason, they are frequently changing their location inside the fores.

“Following the incident, a high alert has been sounded on Odisha-Jharkhand border,” he added.

Rourkela SP Anirudh Kumar Singh said the police suspects that some Maoists have been injured during the crossfire. “We are in constant touch with the Jharkhand police for further details,” he added.

He also said combing operation will continue in the forest to track down the Red Rebels.