GPS device recovered from Naxal hideout in Chhattisgarh

The recovery of the Global Positioning System device, a satellite navigation system that helps find location and time data, has alarmed security and intelligence agencies as such a device was earlier never found with the ultras.

The recovery was made by a joint security team led by the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police in the jungles of Barnara and Khursipar last week.

The other recoveries, after the raid was conducted by the forces, included 10 memory cards, two pen drives (each of 4GB and 2GB storage space), a BSNL SIM card, medicine packets, printers, scanners, fax machines and few 12-volt photo voltaic cells.

Security sources said that while there have been many recoveries in the past of all these items from a Maoist camp or a hideout, an operational GPS device is a cause of worry.

"It is not exactly known if the ultras are adept at using the GPS for planning their moves in the jungles, but one thing is sure that they are learning the device," a senior security official said.

Security forces like ITBP are already using these devices to chart their plans and patrols during anti-naxal operations.