18 Naxalites Arrested in Jamui, Arms Reovered

Jamui: March 17, 2004

The police in Jamui district on Wednesday, in an encounter with the People's War Group and Maoist Naxalites inside the Dahoa forest, arrested 18 extremists and recovered a large amount of weapons and ammunitions from their possession.

A police team conducted raids inside the forest after the authorities were tipped off of a series of crimes to be committed by the extremists. Seeing the police arriving at their hideouts, the Naxalites opened fire at them. The police, in return, opened fire injuring several criminals. While many managed to escape by climbing a hill, the police was able to arrest 18 persons.

One carbine, a double-barrel gun, a foreign pistol, 24 live cartridges, two magazines, one sickle and an axe were recovered from the encounter scene. The police also found Naxalite training literature from their possession.

Sources in police said most of the arrested Naxalites have a long history of crime including murders, kidnappings, armed robberies, and attacks on police outpost.