Jamshedpur, April 15: Armed Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) rebels have sneaked into the neighbouring district of West Singhbhum from Orissa with huge quantities of explosives.

The rebels are learnt to have looted the explosives from extremist-prone Kevlang area of Sundergarh district of Orissa, bordering West Singhbhum. The explosives were meant for the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) managed Meghahataburu mines in West Singhbhum.

“We have sounded a red alert in the district. Additional police force have been deployed at vulnerable points of the district,” superintendent of police of West Singhbhum, Praveen Kumar, told The Telegraph over the telephone from Chaibasa. “The police top brass have also been informed about the matter,” he added.

Kumar had rushed deputy superintendent of police of Kiriburu, B. Toppo, to Kevlang a couple of days ago to probe the matter. Toppo has submitted a report to the district police chief and has reportedly hinted that the rebels have headed towards West Singhbhum with the consignment.

A truck-load of about seven tonnes of explosives was headed towards Meghahataburu in West Singhbhum from Rourkela. However, the vehicle met with an accident in the Roxy area of Kevlang. This area in Orissa has a strong presence of MCC sympathisers.

“The mishap took place on March 23 and the vehicle remained unattended on that spot for over a fortnight. Although a case of accident was lodged in the local police station, no efforts were made to transport the truck to a safer place soon after the accident,” West Singhbhum police officials said.

On April 11, a group of over 45 armed MCC rebels laid siege to the vehicle and looted about four tonnes of the material. Roxy residents told the West Singhbhum police that they had fired gunshots and pasted posters and pamphlets on the vehicle before leaving the spot.

“On their way back, they stopped a local dumper plying through that road and loaded the looted material on it. While one of the MCC cadre drove the vehicle, the driver of the dumper was blindfolded and forced to sit on the back of the vehicle,” police sources said. According to Kumar, the team with the explosives left the dumper and the driver at Bhalulata, a small place on the border of Sundergarh and West Singhbhum.

Police sources claimed that the team had entered Jaraikela from Bhalulata, again an extremist-prone place within West Singhbhum. “They could have fanned out to hideouts in Saranda from Jaraikela with the explosives,” police officials apprehended.

It was learnt that there were three different types of explosives that the rebels managed to lay their hands on.