30% of looted explosives recovered from Jharkhand: Cops
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Bhubaneswar: Three days after armed Maoists hijacked a truck loaded with four tonnes of explosives from a stone quarry in Sundargarh district, about 30% of the stolen consignment was recovered from the Saranda forest area in neighbouring Jharkhand on Friday, police sources said.
The recovery was accomplished following inter-state joint efforts involving several agencies, including Odisha's elite Special Operation Group (SOG).
Police officers said an exchange of fire broke out between security forces and Maoists in Saranda forest in West Singhbhum district, about 5 km from the Banko quarry in Sundargarh, where the explosives were looted around 10 pm on Tuesday.
"The search operation yielded stone-blasting materials.
While the exact quantity is being assessed, we estimate that we recovered at least 30% of the stolen explosives," a senior police officer told TOI.
Maoists also triggered an IED during the search operation, injuring a CoBRA constable identified as Sunil Kumar.
West Singbhum SP Rakesh Ranjan said, "We are carrying out frequent operations in the Saranda forest area to recover all the looted explosives."
Officers said the recovered quantity could increase as search operations continue in the forest.
Police officers have not confirmed any Maoist casualty, though they suspect some cadres sustained gunshot injuries.
Partial recovery of the explosives has provided relief to security personnel, who were concerned about their potential misuse against forces.
Police officers said that Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal launched extensive joint operations to prevent interstate movement of the 4,000 kg of stolen explosives.
"Our coordinated search operations continue across the bordering states. Efforts are on to recover all the stolen explosives. Our primary concern is preventing any potential misuse of these materials against security forces," the senior police officer told TOI.
On Friday, police formed a special investigation team (SIT) under an ASP to investigate the case with support from National Investigation Agency (NIA). Initial investigation suggests the quarry operator failed to follow security protocols by not informing local police about the shipment's arrival. The area where the Maoists struck is surrounded by forests with no residential areas nearby.
The probe faces challenges as Maoists removed the digital video recorder, eliminating access to CCTV footage from the quarry site.
(Inputs from Sanjay Sahay in Ranchi)
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