Most foreign arms seized from Naxals looted from security forces

Contrary to reports that Naxals have started buying foreign-made arms, most such weapons used by them are actually those looted from security forces.

As per a home ministry report, there were no inputs to indicate that Maoists were procuring arms from any foreign country even though they maintain fraternal links with Communist Party of Nepal and Maoists and Communist parties of countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan and Philippines.

It said that most of the foreign-made weapons carried by Naxalites were those that have been looted from security forces.

Sources said the most common foreign-made arm used by the Naxals is the AK-47, which is usually looted from security forces during naxal raids, like in the case of recent attack on a police camp in West Bengal in which the left-wing extremists fled with about 40 weapons, including AKs.

A list of foreign-made weapons seized by central security forces showed that besides few AK-47s, only three Chinese pistols were recovered from the Naxals in 2009.

Sources said the Naxals commonly use country-made weapons for which they run arms factories, mainly located in interior areas of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar.

Interestingly, while 1,511 arms were recovered in 2008, the total seizure in 2009 was only 572. The high figure in 2008, sources said was a result of the recovery of weapons looted by Naxals during a raid at NALCO mines in Orissa in 2008.