A joint team of Special Task Force (STF), District Force (DF) and District Reserve Group (DRG) found a Maoist explosives dump while recovering huge number of high-intensity crackers, safety wire and other items in insurgency-hit Bastar district of Chhattisgarh, police said on Wednesday.
While undertaking combing operation, the security personnel found the explosives dump in the dense Chandameta forest falling under limits of Darbha police station, said Bastar Superintendent of Police (SP) R N Dash.
According to him, it was the first time, security personnel have found an explosive dump in Darbha region.
Most probably, the items were dumped in the dense forest by insurgents active in Darbha division as part of their plan to carry out attacks in the region.
Security personnel have recovered over 1500 high-intensity pieces of crackers, 100 meter safety fuse and 500 meter electric wire.
Safety fuse and electric wire were usually used by Maoists to damage school buildings and bridges while crackers were used to signal movement of security personnel, Dash said.
Earlier , Maoists active in forested pockets of Gudabeda and Koyalibeda of Kanker district were found using crackers to develop a situation with sound of ‘intermittent firing’, another police official said.
Prima-facie, sound of these crackers provide an impression of long-range gunshot firing, he said.
The official further explained that the objective behind such move of Maoist might be to divert attention of security forces undertaking intense combing operation in dense forests of Naxal-infested districts, without wasting their ammunition, as they have limited stock of ammunition.
Instead of retaliating to pseudo firing, security forces are now reacting intelligently in such situations by identifying firing sound whether it is a gunshot or cracker, said the Officer and further elaborated that sound of crackers are different from what comes out from say an INSAS rifle (of different points), pistol and other weapons reportedly being used by Maoists.