Andhra Pradesh - Nalgonda   

Rope trick: latest weapon in the naxal arsenal

Staff Reporter

Maoists planned to ignite petrol bunks using coconut ropes

LETHAL HAUL: The Superintendent of Police M.M. Bhagwat inspecting the claymore mines and other explosives recovered from two Kanagal dalam naxalites who were arrested by the Devarakonda police on Saturday.

NALGONDA: In the face of severe repression, Maoists are said to have decided to adopt cruder terror tactics to challenge the State machinery. A long rope, made of coconut fibre, found in a dump planted by the Kanagal dalam led by the notorious naxal Boda Sailu alias Kurmaiah, has provided a basis for the police to believe this.

A special party police team nabbed two members of an action team of the Kanagal dalam --Kambhampati Mallaiah alias Chakali Mallaiah alias Swamy alias Ramu and Kongala Siddiah alias Ramesh -- in Devarakonda police station limits and recovered dumps at three places on the basis of the information they gave during interrogation. The police team was stunned to find a rope in one of the dumps and the higher-ups were shocked to know the purpose of the rope.

Nationwide sensation

"For the first time in the history, naxals have decided to create a nationwide sensation by blasting petrol bunks with the help of a rope," the Superintendent of Police, M.M. Bhagwat said. "Since they wanted to create a sensation, they were all set to adopt the crudest way during the martyrs' memorial week that started on July 28," he maintained.

To a question on the purpose of the rope, one of the arrested naxals, Ramesh, said: "We planned to soak the rope in petrol first and connect it to the petrol-filling pump. If we light fire at one end, it will engulf the bunk within no time." Even as the naxal, who lights the fire, moves to a safer place, the rope would blast off the petrol tank, the SP maintained.

Though it is not clear whether the Kanagal dalam wanted to try it on its own or it was the brainwave of the high command, the police were shocked to know about the new method. "Like terrorist organisations, Maoists also adopting innovative techniques to create terror among the public. We will take necessary steps to rein in them," Mr. Bhagwat said.

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Rope trick: latest weapon in the naxal arsenal

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