The detection of around 100 booby traps by a joint squad of the local police and the CRPF personnel during a combing operation near Pusuguppa, a remote village in Charla mandal, bordering Chhattisgarh, on Thursday sparked tension in the forested border region.
The police arrested two alleged Maoist militia members of Pusuguppa during a search operation in the area following the recovery of the booby traps near Pusuguppa the same day evening, police sources said.
The incident comes at a time when the Bhadrachalam sub-division police ramped up anti-Maoist operations along the densely forested border with Chhattisgarh as part of a calibrated strategy to prevent the ultras from entering into the State.
The police mounted extra vigil in the border areas to pre-empt attempts by the rebels from crossing over to the State from Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar division through the volatile inter-State border, sources said.
A joint team of police and the CRPF men detected and removed as many as 100 booby traps with sharp metal spikes concealed in as many as 78 pits covered by grass adjacent to the Pusuguppa (Telangana) and Rampur (Chhattisgarh) route during a combing operation on Thursday morning, said Ashok, Circle Inspector of Police, Charla.
Following instructions from the State leaders of the banned outfit, the local Maoist militia members laid the booby traps near the inter-State border in a clandestine manner targeting the police combing parties, he said.
Two Maoist militia members, who were involved in setting up the booby traps, were arrested during a search operation subsequent to the recovery of the booby traps near Pusuguppa, the Inspector said.
