NELLORE: A team of police from Nellore is in Ambattur, Chennai, to investigate the possible connection of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with the weaponry seized in Mahbubnagar and Prakasam districts while being transported to the Maoists on Friday.

This follows revelation on the records seized from the cargo mover, Kranti Transport Company, at Giddalur in Prakasam district that the consignment, consisting of gunny bags carrying rocket launchers and shells, was shipped from the Ambattur industrial estate.

The Nellore police are, however, being cautious while probing the possible LTTE link but they strongly suspect Maoists have been receiving arms from Tamil Nadu during the past few months. "We have sent a team to Ambattur to probe the whole matter in detail," Superintendent of Police (SP) N. Suryanararayana told The Hindu on Saturday. Meanwhile, the police are believed to have taken into custody one K. Rami Reddy, who has allegedly sent the consignment of weapons in the name of a former naxalite M. Srinivasula Reddy. Given its good road and rail connectivity and proximity to Chennai, Nellore has become a transit point for arms supply, the police suspect.

Major blow

Lashkar-e-Toiba activists Abdul Rehman and Afsar Pasha, who were arrested for the attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, revealed during the Narco Analysis test on Thursday that they had received AK-56 from Nellore.

Nellore district was insulated from Maoist violence and police-naxalite encounters for several years when neighbouring districts were rocked by extremist violence. But, this perception received a major blow following the revelation that the weapons seized at Giddalur were despatched from Vedayapalem of Nellore.

According to a Mahabubnagar report, a special police party from the district headquarters left for Chennai to further investigate the case pertaining to the recovery of a large number of rocket launchers, shells and other spares. Initial investigation revealed that the rocket launchers and spares were procured from Tamil Nadu and transported to various destinations in Andhra Pradesh.

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