Jamui police recovered over 550kg of explosive material from a Maoist hideout during joint raids with Jharkhand’s Giridih police and the CRPF’s 7th battalion.

The explosives were seized from deep inside the forest area of Gururbad, in between Maheshkishore and Bhalbakurha under Barmoriya panchayat of Chakai block in Jamui district on Tuesday.

Jamui superintendent of police (SP) Jitendra Rana said the explosive was found inside 13 bags weighing over 550kg. They also found a drum of potassium chloride, uniforms and some women’s cosmetics from a man-made ditch.

The forest cover borders Giridih in Jharkhand and parts of the forest extend up to Jharkhand. The SP said a joint police team from the two states and the CRPF conducted a search operation on Sunday and found the explosive material on Tuesday evening.

Giridih SP Kanti Kumar, assistant commandant of the CRPF’s 7th battalion R.P. Singh and Jamui police led the search operation. The team raided surrounding villages but no arrests have been made yet.

High quality bombs could have been manufactured from the material seized.