Huge cache of explosives recovered in Bihar

Gaya, July 31: A huge cache of explosives, suspected to be belonging to Maoists, was on Friday recovered by the Special Task Force (STF) of Bihar police from the district, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled rally here on August 9.

The explosives were recovered from the forested area near Chhatarpur village under Imamganj police station, Inspector General of Police (Operations) Sushil M Khopde said.

The seized items included 1,000 high-power gelatin sticks, three big cylinder bombs, explosive cords, detonators and other things.

"The place where the items were hidden seemed to have been used by Maoists as an explosives dump. Investigations are being conducted to trace the trail of the gelatin sticks and the cylinder bombs. Nobody has been arrested in this connection so far," Khopde said.

Officials believe that explosives could belong to Maoists

Police and the paramilitary forces have launched special combing operations ahead of the Prime Minister's rally at Gaya on August 9 and forthcoming Assembly polls, the IG said.

Gaya, considered a hotbed of Maoist activities in Bihar, has seen violent incidents in which police and paramilitary personnel have been killed or maimed in the recent past.

Security forces have also arrested a few Maoists and recovered arms, ammunition, explosives and propaganda material from them.

PTI