Ranchi, Oct. 22: A huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from a CPI(Maoist) hideout in Serendah-Sasang forest of Latehar in a joint pre-dawn operation by district police and CRPF personnel today.

The four-hour offensive yielded 350 live cartridges, including 139 of AK-47 and 115 of 9mm pistols, 16 improvised explosive devices (IEDs), 50kg gelatin sticks, a .303 rifle that was looted from police, two countrymade guns, three electric detonators, 40 grenade base plugs, 180 levers of rifle grenade, 10kg splinters, a 400ft-long codex wire used for explosion, besides banners and posters from the spot in Herhang, around 80km from Latehar district headquarters and 130km from Ranchi.

Latehar SP Anup Birthare said they had specific intelligence inputs that Maoists had hidden their weapons and ammunition at some places in Serendah forest. "Accordingly, district police, along with the 11th Battalion of CRPF, which has a base camp at Sasang, carried out the operation," Birthare added.

According to him, the cache could have been hidden by the squad of two sub-zonal commanders, Shrawan Yadav and Yugeshwar Yadav, who were once active in the area.

The IEDs, each weighing around 1-3kg, were defused.

Sources said the arms and ammunition might have been dumped before 2014.

"The area was once a Maoist stronghold, where they used to run training camps. But they fled after security forces took over the place and a CRPF camp was established. We believe the arms and ammunition might have been hidden before 2014 because the banners, seized by police, have slogans against Congress president Sonia Gandhi, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union home minister P. Chidambaram," a senior intelligence officer said.

Police sources said the Maoists were on the backfoot due to the ongoing security operations in Latehar.