The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Copters for anti-naxal operations

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 22, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Copters for anti-naxal operations

Staff Reporter

Centre to meet expenditure on hiring helicopters by police, says DGP

SEN-SE OF DIRECTION: Swaranjit Sen, DGP, tries out a rifle seized from naxalites in Hyderabad on Saturday.

HYDERABAD: The State police will hire helicopters for anti-naxalite operations with the Centre footing the bill.

These helicopters will be mainly used for surveillance of the movement of naxalite squads in areas not easily accessible by foot but not for transporting police personnel, a task that will require large aircraft.

The Director-General of Police, Swaranjit Sen, told reporters here on Saturday that no decision had been taken yet on the purchase of a helicopter by the State Government exclusively for anti-naxalite operations. The police were examining hiring of naval helicopters for operations on the Andhra Pradesh - Orissa border.

Mr. Sen said he was not sure whether the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which the defence establishment, Research Centre Imarat (RCI), appeared keen on supplying to the State police, would be useful for anti-naxal operations. They would be useful only in the case of fixed targets, he pointed out.

Regarding the assistance sought by the police from the Centre to deal with naxalism, he said they expected sophisticated communication equipment, mine-proof vehicles, surveillance and night vision equipment.

Crackdown on naxals

The DGP explained at length the sustained efforts made by the police to crackdown on naxalite squads through the intelligence network that it had developed. This had recently led the police to arrest eleven naxalites of the Janashakti, including a district secretary and a district committee member and four central organisers, at Doulatabad in Medak district. Twentyfour weapons, all company made, and 770 rounds of ammunition were recovered from them. These arrests showed that the police did not wish to indulge in illegal actions like staging a fake encounter. The literature recovered during the arrest would be analysed to decipher information which could be useful for future action by the police, he said.

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