Chinturu Agency: Major damage averted as cops unearth 7 booby traps

Chinturu Agency: A major threat to the police forces engaged in combing operations in the forests on Andhra – Chhattisgarh borders was averted with the police unearthing seven booby traps.

Personnel of the Anti –Naxal Squad (ANS) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) unearthed the booby traps allegedly laid by Maoists in the Mallampet forest area cover in Chinturu Agency.

A police team led by Chinturu ASP G Krishna Kanth, 42 Battalion DSP Raj Kumar, Circle Inspector G Yuva Kumar, and Yetapaka police and CRPF 141 Battalion Dog Squad found seven boobytraps in a pit in the forest along the State border on Tuesday. The booby traps were found at Mallampet, a border village in the Chinturu Police station limits. They had taken up search operations following the directions of Superintendent of Police M Ravindranath Babu after a tip off about the movement of Maoists in the forests.

SP Ravindranath Babu said that the booby traps planted by Maoists were meant to injure and kill the police personnel. Given the size and sharpness of the booby traps, covered with leaves and soil, the police forces could have suffered grave injuries during their combing operations in the forests.

He said that the Maoists' new ploy to create panic among the forces deployed in the border areas was destroyed by the police.

On October 8, the ANS, the CRPF and the district police found 10 boobytraps at Mallampet forest area on the Andhra Pradesh-Chattisgarh border in Chinturu Agency. The traps are usually concealed pits in which sharp iron spikes or LEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) are placed. With the gradual reduction in the number of militants in the Maoist group, the guerrilla militants are giving preference to the booby traps to ensure maximum harm to the security forces.