Security forces collected 2.5 tonnes of explosives of explosives looted by Maoists. Bharat News

Bhubaneswar: Security forces recovered another 2.5 tonnes of explosives on Monday, six days later Maoists looted a stone mine truck in Sundargarh district. The joint campaign led by the Odisha Police included several agencies, including Special Operations Group (SOG), District Voluntary Force (DVF), India Reserve Battalion (IRB), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Jaguar of Jharkhand. By Friday, about 30 percent stolen material was recovered.DGP YB Khurania said, “The Odisha Police is working day by day on a continuous basis to ensure that the entire looted explosive consignment has been recovered. All proper care is being taken to protect the personnel searching for explosive materials in the forest.” Joint effort is being overseen by the top police officers of both the states.The recovery operation included Deep Search Metal Detector (DSMD) to detect buried explosives under dry leaves in a forest area along the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border, Dig (Western Range) Brijesh Rai said. “SOG is leading other forces in search operation. We still have 1.5 tonnes of explosives that are left to recover. The forest has natural craters, which Maoists have used to hide explosives. So far, we know that ultras hidden explosives within a four -km stretch of the forest, “said the excavation.Prior to investigation, it was found that the owner of the mine did not follow the protocol to transport explosives, as the route that the truck had moved was separated. The police is also in the dark as the Maoists removed the video recorder of the CCTV installed in the mine. According to the police, there is an explosive license in the name of Quarry owner Sharanan Agarwal and the other is named after his wife. Police is investigating the details of stock and recent delivery.On 27 May, armed Maoists kidnapped a truck filled with explosives from a place near Banco Stone Quarry. They took the truck into the forest and ran away with explosive packets, which included most of the gelatin rods and detonators used in stone blasting. The robbery site was adjacent to a Maoist den in West Singhbahm district of Jharkhand, West Singhbahm district of Jharkhand.