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Vijayawada, Nov 18 (IANS) The presence of Maoists in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada and surrounding areas created a stir on Tuesday when police arrested 31 Naxalites, including some top leaders from Chhattisgarh.
27 Maoists were arrested from a four-storey building in New Autonagar in Kanuru area of Vijayawada.
Most of the arrested Maoists were women, who had reportedly taken shelter in the guise of labourers.
Following an intelligence alert about Maoists taking shelter in the city, security personnel launched a search operation.
Additional Director General (Intelligence) Mahesh Chandra Laddha said a total of 31 Maoists were arrested from Krishna district, Vijayawada and Kakinada.
Since a large number of migrant workers from other states including Chhattisgarh are employed in various factories and timber depots in and around Vijayawada, especially in Autonagar, the Maoists had taken shelter to avoid any suspicion.
A large-scale search operation was conducted to arrest the Maoists. It was not immediately clear whether security personnel seized any weapons or explosives.
The search is said to be linked to Tuesday’s operation by security forces in the forests of Alluri Seetharamaraju district in the Andhra-Odisha border area, in which six Maoists, including top commander and CPI (Maoist) central committee member Hidma and his wife Raji, were killed.
Intensified operations by security forces in Chhattisgarh are believed to have led to many Maoists from that state crossing into Andhra Pradesh.
ADG Intelligence said that they were keeping a close watch on the activities of Maoists for the last one month.
Some Maoists and supporters were suspected to have moved into the interiors of Andhra Pradesh.
The police were interrogating the owner of the building in Autonagar and trying to identify the people who had given shelter to the Maoists and their supporters. It was also investigated whether they were planning any attack.
Police officials said such a large number of Maoists were not arrested from any city in Andhra Pradesh, even when Maoist activity was at its peak.
–IANS
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