CRPF recovers firearms, ammo in W Midnapore

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has recovered fire arms and ammunition from an abandoned bag at Chikligarh village under Jambani police station in West Midnapore.

A probe has been initiated to ascertain if it has any connection with Maoist incidents.

It was learnt that CRPF 184th battalion was carrying out a routine search at Poradiha and Chilkigarh areas when the CRPF jawans found that two bags tied up with a rope were lying inside the forest area of Jambani.

The CRPF jawans cordoned off the area. After being informed, bomb squad of 207 COBRA battalion rushed to the spot.

The bomb squad members came from Shalboni and removed the rope from the two bags and 

recovered a musket, a single shot pistol and eight rounds of cartridges from inside the bags.

CRPF deputy commandant Prabir Kumar Ghosh led the entire operation. All the arms and ammunitions were submitted to the police at Jambani.

According to the preliminary investigation, it is suspected that the arms were belonging to Maoists.

Some of the Maoist cadres might have hid the bags around 3-4 years ago. Police suspect that the arms were kept there when the Maoists had been operating in the adjoining areas.

However, due to the flushing out operations being carried out in the jungle and various development works initiated by the state government – including distributing free food grains to the villagers – the Maoist menace has been in check at West Midnapore.

A detailed probe has been initiated in this connection so far. The incident had triggered tension among the villagers following the incident.

Police are also investigating if the arms were kept there by any local criminals. After examining the 

condition of the arms, police came to know that arms were kept inside the bags for nearly 4 years.

It may also be mentioned that around two months ago, police had recovered several firearms including a rocket launcher, a rocket and an AK-47 rifle from Khatanga village under Kotshila police station in Purulia. The arms were recovered from a crematorium.