Kolkata, 13 October (H.S.) : Purulia district police achieved a major breakthrough on Tuesday by recovering a cache of firearms and live ammunition during a targeted combing operation in the dense forests of Bandwan. The seized cache includes three rifles, one revolver, and 36 live cartridges believed to have been stashed by former Maoist cadres.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Purulia Superintendent of Police Kumar Sunny Raj stated that security forces have secured multiple operational successes against Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) over the past few months, marked by surrenders, arrests, and encounters in neighbouring Jharkhand. Following these developments, intelligence gathering and surveillance were intensified across the forested belt along the Bengal-Jharkhand border.

The coordinated operation involved personnel from the Kolkata Special Task Force (STF), Bankura district police, Jhalda sub-divisional police, Purulia's Anti-Maoist Cell, the Counter Insurgency Force (CIF), and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Senior officers, including Additional Superintendents of Police and the Superintendent of Police himself, visited and assessed the terrain during the course of the operation.

During the search in the dense forest canopy of Bandwan, officers recovered three .315 bore bolt-action rifles, one .38 bore revolver, and 36 rounds of live ammunition. Police noted that the seized cartridges possess long-range capability and significant destructive power. Officials suspect additional consignments of weaponry may remain hidden in the border forests, and targeted search operations are set to continue over the next month and a half.

According to the district police chief, crucial leads emerged following the interrogation of three Maoists - identified as Madan, Ravi, and Meera - who had been apprehended by Jharkhand Police. Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Jhalda, Gaurav Ghosh, questioned the cadres on behalf of Purulia police, yielding actionable intelligence that led directly to the recovery in the Bandwan forest tract. Authorities confirmed that the seized items belonged to weapons caches abandoned by active cadres in the area.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh