Two CRPF men held for smuggling explosives

LUCKNOW - In a shocking development, two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh along with a retired colleague and a policeman on charges of smuggling weapons and explosives, it was announced Friday,

The Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh Police said that besides the CRPF men, a retired sub-inspector of CRPF and a constable in the police academy were taken into custody.

Additional Director General (Law and Order) Brij Lal told reporters here: “We are yet to ascertain to whom they used to supply the explosives.”

Lal said it was not clear whether they used to pass on police arms to Maoist guerrillas who have stepped up their activity all across central as well as eastern India.

The CRPF is India’s biggest paramilitary force. On April 6, it lost 75 of its men to Maoist guerrillas in a deadly ambush in the forest interiors of Chhattisgarh state.