Hyderabad: In a major breakthrough under the ongoing anti-Maoist campaign ‘Operation Antim Prahar’ (Final Strike), the Gadchiroli Police in Maharashtra, in coordination with the Narayanpur Police of Chhattisgarh, dismantled a Maoist arms manufacturing workshop and seized a large cache of weapons, explosives, and ammunition hidden deep inside a forest along the Maharashtra–Chhattisgarh border.
According to police officials, the operation was launched following confidential intelligence received from surrendered Maoists. Acting on the information, security forces carried out a joint inter-state search operation on May 26 and 27 in a forested region located nearly 7 kilometres from Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh.
Police stated that Maoists had been using the remote forest terrain to manufacture weapons and explosive materials intended for attacks on security forces during events such as Naxal Weeks and elections. The recovered materials were allegedly hidden underground to avoid detection.
During the search, the teams recovered a substantial quantity of arms and explosives, including one INSAS rifle, two single-shot rifles, two 12-bore rifles, 18 live cartridges of various calibres, 25 kilograms of IED explosives, two Claymore mines, 110 detonators, Cortex wire, more than 500 BGL cells along with manufacturing materials, seven BGL launchers, and three tube launchers.
Security personnel also unearthed equipment allegedly used for manufacturing weapons, including two lathe machines, electric motors, a grinder machine, inverter batteries, solar panels, iron rods, and bundles of wire. Officials said the weapon-manufacturing materials recovered from the site were destroyed on the spot under the supervision of senior officers.
Police officials stated that Maoist activities in Gadchiroli district have been significantly weakened and that continuous operations have severely crippled the extremist network in the region.
