CRPF recovers huge cache of arms in Orissa

New Delhi, Feb 22: A Central Reserve Police Force battalion on Friday recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunitions from a dump in Ganjam area of Orissa that were suspected to be hidden by the Maoists. The Vijay 127 battalion of the paramilitary force has recovered 157 weapons which appear to be the ones looted from police stations in Orissa, Inspector General (Operations) A P Maheshwari said.

Maheshwari also said that the cache was having a covering of IEDs. He said that this battalion was airlifted from Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal to carry out operations against the Maoists. On Thursday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had said the success of police in last few months seems to have triggered the recent attack by the Maoists in Nayagarh district.

The Union Home Ministry has sent 400 CRPF personnel to Orissa for a long haul against Maoists involved in the Nayagarh attack. The 'Greyhound' anti-naxal squad from Andhra Pradesh are assisting the personnel to hunt the attackers who shot dead 14 policemen and a civilian and looted armouries in Nayagarh on February 15 night.

ANI