Mumbai, March 13: Police have launched aerial and ground combing operations in the densely forested areas near the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border to trace a large quantity of ammonium nitrate looted by suspected Maoists from a private supplier.

Police sources said a gang of armed Maoists had hijacked a tanker belonging to the Nagpur-based Keltech Energy on March 10 while it was transporting the ammonium nitrate from Chandrapur to the National Mine Development Corporation (NMDC) in Dantewada and escaped with 16 tonnes of the chemical.

The cops fear the rebels may use the ammonium nitrate to make explosives in order to attack security agencies.

“They took the tanker to an unknown spot, about 20km into the forest, and unloaded the entire consignment of ammonium nitrate. They held the truck driver captive till Friday afternoon. He reported the incident at Dhanora police station,” S. Jayakumar, superintendent of police, Gadchiroli, said.