'14 IEDs, Hand Grenades': Jharkhand Police-CRPF Joint Operation Discovers Huge Cache Of Explosives Planted By Maoists

During a collaborative search operation on the boundaries of the Toklo police station in West Singhbhum and Kuchai police station in Saraikela-Kharsawan districts of Jharkhand, security forces accomplished a significant feat by discovering a large stockpile of explosives on Sunday evening.

The police department is conducting a search operation in the jungles based on a tip-off they received. The tip-off suggested that a large stockpile of ammunition has been concealed there with the intention of targeting security forces.

The police reported that a combined unit consisting of the Jharkhand Police, Jharkhand Jaguar, and the 60th Battalion of CRPF was established, initiating a search operation against Maoists in the area, as per The New Indian Express.

“The team recovered 14 IEDs from the forested hilly area, each of them weighing nearly 2 kgs. Apart from this, handmade grenades, ammonium nitrate powder, firecracker powder and steel containers have also been recovered,” the state police headquarters statement said.

The bomb disposal squad neutralised all the IEDs and eliminated the explosives on-site for safety purposes, as stated. Significantly, the Maoists are now confined solely to the Saranda forests in Jharkhand, having been eradicated from other areas of the state.

An estimation suggests that approximately 85-90 Maoists are believed to be concealed within the Saranda forests, having laid thousands of IEDs. This presents a significant challenge for the security forces.

Even though the entire area has been rigged with IEDs by the Maoists, the forces are steadily and resolutely progressing into the jungles. They have set up numerous provisional security camps within the Maoists' main territories.

In November 2022, a joint operation was initiated by the state police in the Kolhan jungles following a tip-off. It was reported that several high-ranking Maoist leaders, such as Misir Besra and Patiram Majhi, also known as Anal Da, were believed to be in hiding in this forest area, which is considered strategically significant.