KOCHI: Left-wing extremism is on the rise in Kerala. That is the Central and state agencies’ worrying assessment, which says the CPI(Maoist) activists have become dangerous in the state and are in possession of AK-47s to launch attack on forces. Top state police officers too have concurred with the assessment, especially considering their gatherings in various parts of north Kerala.
“Maoists are now even more dangerous as they’ve acquired weapons including AK-47. They’re establishing a strong presence in the forests spread across the Kerala-Tamil Nadu-Karnataka trijunction,” a senior police officer told Express.
The assessment carries considerable weight considering that in Bihar an arms-smuggling racket, which used to supply weapons to Maoists, was busted. A special cell of the Patna Police nabbed the prime accused of the racket, which smuggled AK-47 assault rifles from the Central Ordnance Depot (COD) at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh for supplying to Maoists. The racket had been into arms smuggling since 2001.
The intelligence agencies are taking stock of the development as officers within the defence units are party to the racket. Meanwhile, the Kerala Police are expecting a major breakthrough in the anti-Maoist operations in the state following the arrest of their leader Danish aka Dennis, 28.
Maoist activities: Police to analyse developments
Police said catching senior Maoist leaders, including Danish, alive was highly risky because they mostly carry cyanide with them to make suicide attempt on being caught.A team led by Kannur Range Inspector General Balram Kumar Upadhyay will analyse the developments to ascertain the details which indicate that Maoists in north Kerala possess assault rifles.
The seizure and recovery of the AK-47s and other arms spare parts from Ganga river in Bihar’s Munger district assume significance in the state as it was in last January that the Kerala Police had recovered ammunition including five claymore mines, a large cache of bullets used in self-loading rifles and six pulse generators exclusively used by the Indian Army from Bharathapuzha river bed at Kuttipuram. Though a special team led by Kerala Police made much progress by tracking the arms to an ordnance factory in Maharashtra and a depot in Punjab, the probe stumbled midway due to alleged non-sharing of information by Army.