By IANS,
Kolkata : Security personnel Friday unearthed a Maoist hideout in a forest in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district and recovered a huge cache of explosives and weapons the rebels were planning to use to disrupt the assembly elections, officials said.
“A huge cache of explosives, including high intensity landmines, were recovered from a Maoist hideout in a forest at Bhumishole near Maoist-affected Lalgarh,” said West Midnapore’s Additional Police Superintendent (Operation) Sukesh Jain.
“We had specific inputs that Maoists took shelter and were preparing landmines to trigger blasts during the assembly polls. Acting on specific inputs, we conducted raids in the area and unearthed the hideout, but no one was found there. We seized the explosive and ammunition,” Jain told IANS over phone.
The seizures included 20 kg of raw explosive materials, five landmines and two firearms, he added.
Maoists are active in three western districts of the state – West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura. Six phased assembly polls are being held in the state April 18 to May 10.