Huge cache of arms recovered from Maoist's den in Jharkhand's Latehar

A huge cache of arms and ammunitions was recovered from Budha Pahad area in Jharkhand's Latehar district, police said on Monday. 

A light machine gun, an INSAS and a self loading rifle and 18 weapons that had been looted from police, besides more than 200 improvised explosive devices were recovered from the left wing extremists' bunkers in the area, which is some 180 km from state capital Ranchi, the police said. 

Operation 'Octopus 20'

Deputy inspector general (DIG) of Palamu Range, Raj Kumar Lakra said that a joint operation code named 'Octopus 20', comprising CoBRA battalion, CRPF and Jharkhand police, is being carried out in Budha Pahad, considered to be safe haven for Maoists for the past one and half months.

"During the operation on Sunday, we recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition from bunkers in Budha Pahad area," he said.

A special operation is on in the area, Chattan Pani and Jok Pani hill since October 28 and the area is almost freed from Maoists now, he said. 

In the operation the police also recovered four magazines of the LMG, one carbine, seven 303 rifles with 11 magazines, nine 315 rifles, 876 bullets, 41 country-made grenades and 213 IEDs, an official release said.

All the IEDs have been destroyed, police said.