Chhattisgarh: Arms, weapon-making equipment seized from Naxal dumps in Gariaband

Gariaband (Chhattisgarh): Security forces have recovered arms, ammunition, explosives and equipment used for making weapons stored by Naxalites from six locations in the hilly areas of Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district, police said on Saturday.

The Maoist dumps were unearthed in Bhaludiggi and Metal hill ranges under Mainpur police station area adjoining Odisha following a 36-hour-long search operation that concluded on Saturday, a police official said.

Based on information provided by the Maoists who surrendered earlier this month that the top leadership of the Odisha State Committee of the banned CPI (Maoist) had stored automatic weapons and equipment at various locations in the hills along the Chhattisgarh- Odisha border, a special E-30 unit of the district police force launched the operation on Friday.

The seized items included two INSAS rifles, one .303 rifle, one country-made pistol, one 'surka' (country-made Barrel Grenade Launcher), two 12-bore guns, two single-shot weapons, 127 live rounds, eight magazines, 22 BGL shells, a bundle of electric wire and various tools used in the weapon workshop of the Maoists' technical team, the official said.

The weapon workshop was being operated under the supervision of three CPI (Maoist) central committee members who were killed in separate encounters last year, he said.

The Maoists' technical team manufactured Improvised Explosive Devices and country-made weapons as well as repaired automatic firearms, the official added.

The seizure came in the wake of the anti-Naxal 'Operation Virat' launched by Gariaband police over the past one-and-a-half years.

During the operation, all known Naxalites active in the Dhamtari-Gariaband-Nuapada division of the Maoists either surrendered or were forced to become inactive before January 26, the police official said.

With the recovery of the arms dumps, the possibility of the recurrence of Maoist violence in the region has been "almost reduced to zero", he claimed.

Since January 2025, security forces have seized 28 graded automatic weapons and 29 other firearms from Maoists in the district besides 240 electric detonators, 17 non-electric detonators, seven IEDs and around 100 metres of cordex wire.