Hyderabad: A US-made Colt rifle and an Israeli Tavor rifle are among the 48 firearms handed over to the police by the 20 CPI (Maoist) cadre who surrendered before the Telangana Police, forcing the investigators to probe the source of the ‘foreign’ weapons.
“We are verifying the sources of the weapons. It was probably looted from the security forces during attacks,” said Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) B Shivadhar Reddy.
The other firearms handed over to the police included light machine guns (LMG), AK-47 rifles, Indian small arms system (INSAS) rifles, self-loading rifles (SLR), barrel grenade launcher (BGL), single-shot gun, air gun, two grenades and 2,206 rounds of ammunition.
2 top commanders, 18 others Maoists surrender in Telangana
According to sources in the Telangana Police, the Maoists had obtained the foreign weapons from security forces during major attacks in the previous years across the country. The Israeli, United States and German-made weapons have been used by security forces engaged in anti-Maoist operations across the country for several years.
“During the attacks on the police, the Maoists took away weapons. The weapons are later handed over to the committee members concerned and then distributed among the cadres, including the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army known for carrying out many ambushes,” said an official.
It was earlier suspected that the CPI (Maoist) groups in Chhattisgarh were getting the weapons from foreign countries illegally through the North-East corridor. However, the security forces have choked the supply lines through sustained efforts, the official said.
In the past, security forces in Chhattisgarh had seized a US-made M1 carbine, 7.65 mm automatic pistols with a “Made in USA” mark, a rifle with a “Made in Germany” mark and a sub-machine gun of US make.
The CPI (Maoist) built its arsenal through several methods, including seizing arms from security personnel and police stations after ambushes, manufacturing homemade weapons and explosives and purchasing foreign arms from various illicit networks.
The surrendered arms dumps of high-ranking Maoist leaders have also included both US-made Colt rifles and Israeli-made Tavor rifles, alongside other weapons like AK-47s, LMGs and INSAS rifles.