Bokaro, Dec. 25.: The grenade factory unearthed at Jhumra Pahad yesterday used to supply explosives to Assam, Orrisa, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Bengal and Nepal through road and rail routes since 1996, according to sources in the police department.

The sources said experts from Andhra Pradesh were brought to Jhumra Pahad to teach the rebels the art of making hand grenades. “Jhumra Pahad and its adjoining area had become a rebel bastion, termed red fort of MCC,” said sources.

According to them, the grenades that were recovered from the factory were potent and could have blown any thing within a radius of fifty metres. The sources added that the grenades were used by the rebels when the State Bank of India’s Hazaribagh branch was looted. The recovery of three Japanese wireless sets, capable of intercepting CRPF and police messages in six districts of Jharkhand has shocked home department officials.

Superintendent of police, Bokaro, Anil Palta today said the rebels used to place the wireless sets on top of the Jhumra cliff and intercepted messages sent by the director-general of Bihar police to different police stations. The sources said after Jhumra became a stronghold of the MCC, rebels from Orissa, Bengal, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Nepal took refuge in the hills for months.

Palta said once the additional five battalions of the CRPF reaches Bokaro pressure on the extremists will increase. He said a permanent police post will be set up to flush out the rebels.

Palta said to nab senior commanders of the MCC joint action by the police in Giridih, Koderma, Chhatra Hazaribagh, Dhanbad and Ranchi districts was needed.

On the hand grenade factory that was unearthed, he said: “Our informers are risking their lives collecting information about the whereabouts of the rebels. We are nearing our goal. Soon Jhumra Pahad will be rebel-free,” he added.