The Hindu : National : One Maoist arrested

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 20, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

One Maoist arrested

Raktima Bose

IED detected near security camp

KOLKATA: While a Maoist squad member was arrested from the Belpahari area of West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district on Thursday, a ten-kg improvised explosive device (IED) was detected near a security force camp in Jhargram region of the district.

The IED was, however, destroyed by the bomb disposal squad through controlled explosion.

According to the police, a joint security operation had been launched by the police of the neighbouring Paschim Medinipur and Bankura districts over the past few days to sanitise and plug the corridors the Maoists use to cross over the forest-covered border between the two districts after an operation as well as destroy their hideouts.

“During the operation, the police arrested Haren Pal who is a member of Madan Mahato's squad that operates in the border area. One rifle and several rounds of ammunition were recovered from him. The firearm was earlier looted from a local person,” said Pravin Tripathi, Superintendent of Police of Jhargram police district.

Referring to the detection of the IED, Mr. Tripathi said intelligence reports received about a week back had warned against Maoists planning to trigger landmine explosions targeting the security personnel.

“Our men had kept vigil since then and the foot-long IED was detected by the bomb squad today. It appears to have been planted ten days back and the spot is about two km from the CRPF's camp at Beltala,” he added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail