Malkangiri: In a significant breakthrough, the District Voluntary Force (DVF) team of Malkangiri police uncovered a major Maoist arms and explosives dump in the dense forest area of Gunthabada and Kadamguda under Kalimela Police Station limits early this morning.
Acting on specific inputs obtained from the interrogation of surrendered Naxals, the DVF team conducted an intensive search operation in the forest region bordering Motugudem and Donkarai Police Station limits of Alluri Sitarama Raju (ASR) District in Andhra Pradesh.
The dump was busted around 6:30 AM today.The seized items include two SLR rifles, two pistols, IEDs, cartridges, walkie-talkie sets with batteries, antenna and wires, metal pipes, hard disk, pendrive, keyboard, medicine kit and other incriminating materials. Police suspect the arms, ammunition and explosives were intended to be used against civilians and security forces.
The cache is believed to belong to cadres of the AOBSZC (Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee) of the Maoists.This recovery comes as Malkangiri district has achieved its target of becoming completely Naxal-free by March 31, 2026, as set by the Union Home Minister. Between January 2025 and March 31, 2026, two Naxals were arrested and 23 surrendered before the police.
This is the third major Maoist dump recovered in the district this month. On June 9, 2026, in the forests of Kirmitti and Katuapadar under Mathili PS limits, security forces recovered one INSAS LMG, two INSAS Rifles, IEDs, grenades, detonators and other materials. On June 15, another operation in the forests of Silakota, Perwai and Keskaguda under Podia PS limits led to the seizure of three Sten carbine guns, one SBML gun, a pistol, IEDs, UBGL grenades, a welding machine and other Maoist articles.
Senior police officials stated that combing and search operations by Special Operations Group (SOG) and DVF teams are being carried out regularly in the area to locate and recover any hidden Maoist arms caches, aiming to prevent any possible resurgence of Naxal activity in the future.
