Odisha Police Averts Possibility Of Maoist Attack, Seize Huge Cache Of Explosives Ahead Of Elections

The Odisha police on Wednesday seized a huge cache of explosives and a maoist dump hidden underground in a jungle area near Dayaltung village under Kalimela police limits in Malkangiri district, nearly 650 km from here.

According to the sources, the Malkangiri District Voluntary Force (DVF), a special constabulary unit of Odisha police, recovered a huge volume of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and materials used for making the IEDs during the raid.

The police said the success came as it launched a major operation in the forest region on the basis of specific intelligence inputs.

The explosives were seized after an intensive search by DVF and intelligence personnel of Malkangiri district in the general area under Kalimela police station jurisdiction bordering Andhra-Odisha, informed Malkangiri Police.

Among the seized items are 190 gelatin sticks, one 20-kg improvised explosive device (IED), five 7-kg IED, one 5-kg IED, one 4-kg IED, three 3-kg IED and another 2-kg IED.

The police suspect that these articles were kept hidden to target civilians and security forces.

The successful seizure of explosives is seen as a major accomplishment as it averted some possible targets of the Maoists active in the region. The police suspect that the explosives along with other articles belong to the Maoist cadres of Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC).

“They were intended to be used against innocent civilians and security forces to carry out their subversive, anti-national activities and to show their presence again in this area," informed the police sources.

After the recovery of explosives, the police stepped up combing and search operations in the area.