The men were arrested Saturday during a police crackdown against leftist radicals in the district.
“We seized a cache of arms including double barrel guns and iron pipes used in land mines in Narayanpatana block. During investigation we found that the some of the arms recovered were used in the Nalco attack,” said Deepak Kumar, Koraput superintendent of police.
In April last year, around 100 armed rebels had laid siege to a bauxite mine of Nalco at Panchpatmali, some 370 km from here. At least 10 paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed in the attack.
“During interrogation we have found that six of the 15 arrested are Maoists. They had undergone training in Maoist camps,” Kumar added.