Maoist camp busted in Odisha's Kandhamal

BERHAMPUR: Security personnel busted a Maoist camp, which was operating from a reserve jungle under the Phiringia police station limits in Kandhamal district, and seized around 15kg explosives from the spot on Wednesday.
Tipped-off about the Maoists camping in the Ladapadara reserve forest area, a team of the Special Operation Group (SOG) launched a combing operation there.On seeing the SOG personnel, the Left-wing extremists fled the camp leaving behind a huge stick of explosives and other items.
“Around 15kg of explosives, including urea, gunpowder, 28 detonators, multi-meters, live wires, rechargeable battery bags, black caps, medicines, Maoist banners, posters and literature were seized from the camp,” SP (Kandhamal) Prateek Singh said. He added that around 15 to 20 ultras were in the camp when the SOG jawans launched a search operation in the area. They managed to escape taking advantage of the dense forest cover and thick vegetation. There was no exchange of fire, he said.
Last month, police had busted another Maoist camp, which was operating in a jungle under the Khajuripada police station limits and seized huge quantities of explosives and other substances from the camp.
Police suspect that the Maoists may have started reorganising their groups taking advantage of the suspension of the transport services owing to the lockdown and shutdown to arrest the spread of Covid-19.
The SP said they have been carrying on the anti-Maoist operation during the lockdown period and have kept a strict vigil on the movement of Maoists.