Bhubaneswar, July 20: Stepped up drive against Maoists has begun to yield results in Odisha with security forces busting a rebel camp on the borders of Rayagada and Gajapati districts on Wednesday and seizing six landmines apart from a gun and some live ammunition.

Senior police officials in Rayagada said that a combined team of CRPF and state police raided the camp following a tip-off from a Maoist leader who had been arrested a few days ago. The rebels present in the camp, however, got wind of the operation and managed to escape.

“We conducted the raid after getting specific information from Ramesh Tama alias Dasrath, the commander of the Kashipur-Niyamgiri division of the Maoists who had been arrested a few days ago in the course of a combing operation. The seizure of landmines and weapons is important for us and we plan to intensify our operation against the Maoists in the area,” said a senior police officer.

For the security forces, this success came close on the heels of their last week’s operation against a Maoist faction, which has styled itself as People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), on Sundergarh-Jharkhand border.

A number of PLFI leaders were arrested during the operation which was carried out with the cooperation of Jharkhand police.

“While intensive combing is already taking place in Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon areas of Koraput district, we are going to do the same in Malkangiri, Rayagada and Gajapati which are also known Red bastions. We had good news yesterday, when Andhra Pradesh police managed to seize at least eight claymore mines close to Koraput border with our cooperation,” said an officer.

“Rains make forests hard to penetrate for us. They have come as a blessing for the rebels but they should be under no illusion that we are going to give up our chase,” said an officer.