Suspected infiltration: Maoist sympathizers under police watch in Tamil Nadu
The STF and the Naxal Special Division (NSD) are engaged in combing operations round the clock in Coimbatore and Nilgiris districts that share forest boundaries with Kerala and Karnataka.
Published: 21st November 2023 07:45 AM | Last Updated: 21st November 2023 07:45 AM | A+A A-
For representational purposes (Express Illustrations)
COIMBATORE: As part of preventive measures against the Maoist infiltration into Tamil Nadu from Kerala, the state intelligence agencies are keeping a watch on Maoist supporters and sympathizers across the state. As per sources, around 25 people are kept under the shadow watch in Coimbatore. The Tamil Nadu Special Task Force (STF) is collecting details of man-missing complaints in border villages, to check if someone had joined any extremist movements, sources added.
Following an alert from Kerala police last week that two suspected Maoists, who sustained bullet injuries in an exchange of gunfire with Thunderbolt team in Kannur on November 13, might have entered the Tamil Nadu for treatment, police stepped up surveillance at 14 check posts and in border towns.
The STF and the Naxal Special Division (NSD) are engaged in combing operations round the clock in Coimbatore and Nilgiris districts that share forest boundaries with Kerala and Karnataka.
“Maoists had active bases in Siruvani, Bhavani, Nadukani, Banasura and Kabini hills in the Western Ghats and we curtailed their activities in state. They are currently focusing on Banasura and Kabini bases. In the last one week, we almost covered the entire border boundaries in Coimbatore and Nilgiris district and did not find any suspicious movement. We suspect that the injured Maoists, if really they moved out of Kerala, might have entered Karnataka,” said a STF official.
As per sources, STF has ten specialized camps in 13 districts in the state to curtail the extremist movements and five are located in Nilgiris and Coimbatore. “We, along with NSD and police intelligence teams, frequently meet the tribal villagers in an attempt to develop sources who will inform us of unknown movement in the forest boundary. Similarly, we are working in the urban areas. In the Coimbatore district alone around 25 people who are identified as sympathizers of the Maoists -are on the watch list. Also, we are gathering ‘missing’ details at the tribal villages located near the state borders. If anyone is missing, the person might have joined with the extremists,” the officer added.
