1 ton of explosives robbed by Maoists from stone quarry recovered in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Nearly 1 ton of explosives robbed by Maoists from near a stone quarry in Odisha's Sundergarh district were recovered by security forces, an official said on Wednesday.

The Odisha Police, along with the CRPF, Jharkhand Jaguar, the Special Operations Group (SOG), and the elite COBRA unit, launched a joint operation in Saranda forest in Jharkhand after the Maoists robbed about 4 ton of explosives, mostly gelatin, on May 27.

"The security personnel recovered another 1,000 kg of explosive during the operation on Tuesday night," DIG (Western Range) Brijesh Rai told PTI.

On Monday, around 2.5 ton of explosives were recovered, he said.

Prior to that, around 157 kg of explosives were recovered, another official said.

The explosives were buried in the dense jungle, he said.

A group of 25-30 Maoists robbed a truck transporting explosives to the Banko stone quarry in the K Balang area.

So far, nearly 3.6 ton of explosives have been recovered, the official said.

"The search operation is continuing in the dense forest of adjoining Jharkhand," Rai said.

Meanwhile, the SIT of the Odisha Police arrested the owner of an explosive warehouse, Sraban Agarwal, and the driver of the truck on Tuesday.