Chaibasa (Jharkhand) – In a significant breakthrough, a joint operation by the police forces of Jharkhand and Odisha, along with central security agencies, has led to the recovery of 2.5 tonnes of explosives from the Saranda forest in West Singhbhum district, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
The explosives were part of a large cache looted by Maoists on May 27 from a stone quarry in Relahatu Yanko, under Keblang police station in Odisha’s Sundargarh district.
An earlier operation on May 30 had already recovered 150 kg of the stolen material from the Tirilposhi area of the Saranda forest. Authorities believe the Maoists still possess around two tonnes of the explosives, and an intensive search is underway.
According to reports, an armed Maoist group had intercepted a van carrying explosives to the quarry and forced it into the dense Saranda forest. There, they offloaded and hid approximately 200 packets of explosives.
The incident prompted a high alert in both Odisha and Jharkhand. In addition to the state police efforts, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) launched a parallel probe, while Odisha Police formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the case.
Police sources revealed that a large quantity of the stolen explosives had been buried in the Tirilposhi area, under Jaraikela police station. The recovery was made during a coordinated effort involving Jharkhand Police, the CRPF, the elite CoBRA battalion, and Odisha Police.
Odisha’s Rourkela Police confirmed the recovery in a post on their official social media account.
The vast Saranda forest remains a known Maoist stronghold. However, continuous counterinsurgency operations over the past two years have significantly weakened their influence, confining them to smaller areas.
Maoists are known to frequently lay explosives along forest paths to target police and paramilitary personnel. Over the past two years, such landmine attacks have claimed the lives of at least four security personnel and more than ten civilians.
With inputs from IANS