5k kg explosives looted by 40-50 suspected Maoists near CG-Odisha border

Time of India

2 days ago

Raipur: A security alert has been issued in across Bastar division, along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border, after a van carrying 5,000 kilograms of industrial explosives was looted by a group of 40-50 armed men, believed to be Maoists, on Tuesday evening.
The explosives, packed in 200 cartons of 25 kg each, were en-route to a stone quarry in Baing, Sundargarh district, near Jharkhand border, when the attack took place.
According to a senior officer posted in Bastar, the initial reports suggests that the van carrying explosive reached near Balang police station near Rourkela in
Odisha
when the armed group intercepted the vehicle. The driver was held at gunpoint along with labourers present at the site.
The assailants forced the workers to reload the explosives into the van, then abducted the driver and drove the vehicle into a nearby forest, where more suspects were waiting. The explosives were offloaded deep inside the jungle. The driver was later released unharmed and returned to alert the warehouse manager.
The driver alleged that the attackers identified themselves as "forest people" or Naxalites, and they were armed.
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The officer told TOI that the incident warns the volume of stolen explosives is too much to go unnoticed and anticipated the loot may be part of a larger plot against security forces or public infrastructure.
"Though it's not sure if they were Maoists who looted yet, the loot is an indication of extreme seriousness. Rourkela police are investigating the matter and Chhattisgarh police have sounded an alert in Bastar. It they were Maoists, and get the explosives transported then it can be used against security personnel.
We have activated our resources, cordoned off the borders and sensitive areas and keeping vigilance.
It usually takes time to move such explosives and comes in breaks and in scattered way," the officer said.
IED blast incidents in Bastar are common that have led to deadly attacks and hundreds of casualties of security personnel and civilians. Only in Jan 2025, eight DRG jawans were killed in Bijapur when their vehicle was blown up in an IED attack triggered by Maoists.
Meanwhile, since Jashpur is only 200 kms from Odisha's jurisdiction where the incident took place, police are on alert in northern parts of Chhattisgarh as well, and additional patrol units have been pressed on job.
Jashpur SSP Shashimohan Singh said that barricading and border surveillance have been intensified. "All police stations have been put on alert, and patrolling has been increased," he said.
Surveillance has been heightened across Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Jharkhand.
SECURITY ALERT ISSUED