Naxals running arms manufacturing units - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken disclosed on Wednesday that Maoists are running arms manufacturing units in the interior areas of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha Maken said the Maoists arms factories manufacture country-made weapons. "The CPI (Maoist) runs arms factories which are mainly located in interior areas of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar where they manufacture country-made weapons," he said. Maken said that there was no indication of Maoists procuring arms from foreign countries. "Most of the foreign made arms with Naxalites have been looted from security forces. There are no inputs to indicate that Maoists are procuring arms from any foreign country," he added. The security forces have recovered 1511arms in 2008 and 572 in 2009 from the Naxalites. In 2010 till February, 16 security forces recovered 78 arms from the Naxalites.