Bhubaneswar, Jan. 29: Security forces destroyed a Maoist camp in the wee hours today and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition in the Bargaon area of Sundergarh district close to the Jharkhand border. One rebel hailing from Gumla in Jharkhand was arrested during the operation that began on Thursday.

Sources said the top secret operation carried out by a combined team of CRPF and state police followed specific intelligence input about the movement of the rebels deep inside Kurpani reserve forests in Bargaon. The Maoists were challenged by security forces and a fierce gun battle ensued.

“The exchange of fire continued for several hours. We are sure several rebels were injured in the encounter,” said a senior officer posted in Sundergarh. Pushed to the backfoot, the rebels fled the camp but one of them, Arjun Sahu, who hails from Gumla in Jharkhand, was arrested.

Sundergarh SP Deepak Kumar said nine rifles and 150 bullets were seized from the camp located on the Orissa-Jharkhand border. Security forces also found five mobile phones, several bags and Rs 5,000 in cash from the spot.

The attack on the rebel camp came close on the heels of the arrest of a CRPF jawan in Sundergarh district for his alleged links with the Maoists. Sources said that Satyaban Bhoi, who worked with the intelligence wing of the CRPF, was taken into custody on Friday on charges of spying for the rebels. Along with Bhoi, a mechanic named Tarun Das, son of a priest in Bisra area of Sundergarh, was arrested. Das has been charged with supplying explosives to the Maoists and repairing vehicles used by them.

Das was the first to be nabbed with police recovering explosives and Maoist literature from his garage. Bhoi, who has been accused of passing on information to Maoists in Orissa and Jharkhand, was arrested on the basis of information provided by the mechanic.

Senior officials said that the arrest of the CRPF jawan indicated that rebels had made inroads even within the security establishment. Rourkela SP Diptesh Patnaik said that investigation was on to ascertain whether more people were also involved.

Maoist activities have been on an increase in Sundergarh district. Nearly a month ago, rebels hacked four persons to death in the district’s K. Balang area for joining hands with the police against them. The bodies were left on the railway tracks near K. Balang station.

Admitting that Maoist violence in the state had assumed serious proportions, senior officials here said that the state government would seek Rs 119 crore from the Centre for curbing the menace.