VISAKHAPATNAM: CPI (Maoist) naxalites are gradually imparting the latest technology in their war against the police. Their technological acquisition has reached a new high with production of pressure mines.

50 mine shells found

Nearly 50 pressure mine shells were recovered by the Visakhapatnam district police near the East Godavari border, a few days ago.

This is for the first time in the country that the Maoists have made pressure mines.

Going by the finish of the mines, they must have been manufactured in a workshop or factory. Only the explosive in them is missing.

``We have identified a new method adopted by naxalites. They have earlier used landmines and claymore mines and now have made pressure mines. They seem to have copied the model that the U.S. Marines had used in Vietnam in the past. ``These mines will kill anyone who steps on them. The mine doesn't distinguish between a policeman and a civilian. It is also for the first time in the country that the Visakhapatnam police have unearthed pressure mines," said Superintendent of Police V.V. Srinivasa Rao on Tuesday.

Raid in forests

A raid in Malkangiri forests in Orissa in 2002 revealed that naxalites were manufacturing crude type of rocket-launchers while they were preparing crude grenades.

But the pressure mines are a major cause for worry.

Intensified combing operations by the police, assisted by paramilitary forces during the last several months in the agency area (comprising hills and forests with tribal inhabitants) of the district, have helped unearth several dumps of Maoists.

More explosives recovered

Along with the pressure mines, the police recovered two claymore mines of booby-trap variety and grenade shells near Kumkumpudi in G.K. Veedhi mandal and gelatin sticks weighing 50 kg from another dump near Nerallabanda village in the same mandal.

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