KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, June 9: In a breakthrough, the police and paramilitary forces recovered as many as a dozen firearms, including heavy automatic guns from a dump under the Naxal-infested Tonto thana area in West Singhbhum area, about 100 km away from here on Sunday.
The arms and ammunition dump were found in a hilly terrain along Regdahatu and Tumbahaka villages under the Tonto thana area this afternoon.
The recovered firearms include LMG, SLR, mortars, revolver, nine MM pistol and over 450 rounds of live cartridges.
It may be mentioned here that a big squad of CPI-Maoist rebels had sneaked into the dense Kolhan forest division since January 2023, leading the police and paramilitary forces to start an anti-insurgency operation there.
As the Naxals had planted an unspecified number of landmines in the strategic locations across the dense forest cover, the police and paramilitary forces were finding it difficult to combat the Naxals effectively.
To expedite the anti-insurgency operation, the West Singhbhum SP, Ashutosh Shekhar changed the strategy and launched a special operation in the Goelkera and Tonto thana areas in the Kolhan forest division on October 10 last year.
Ever since this special operation was launched there has been significant progress in combating the Naxals resulting in minimum casualties on the paramilitary forces.
Moreover, the Naxals including the outfit’s leaders like Misir Besra, Anmol, Ajay Mahto, Mochu, Chaman, Kandey, Sagen Angeria and Aswin seem to have been on the run in fear of getting killed by the belligerent paramilitary forces.
The recovery of the firearms and ammunition from a dump in the Naxals-infested Tonto thana area is a testimony of the apparent fear of the Naxals.
