Surrendered Maoists to train cops on IED detection

The Chhattisgarh police have roped in surrendered Naxalites with expertise in improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to train security personnel, aiming to enhance their operational capabilities, officials said on Thursday.

The counter-insurgency strategy comes shortly after Chhattisgarh, particularly the Bastar region that had grappled with Left-Wing Extremism for over four decades, was declared free of armed Maoists on March 31.

According to officials, this knowledge-sharing will play a crucial role in making the Bastar region safer by strengthening the capacity of security forces to detect and neutralise IED threats. It will protect both personnel and local communities from the dangers of explosives that Maoists had once planted extensively across the region during the peak of their influence and activity.