Phulbani (Orissa), April 18 (IANS) Police have arrested at least five Maoist guerrillas in Orissa and seized from them weapons including a gun and bullets, officials said Friday. Police nabbed the Maoists Thursday from Goshma forest located on the border of two districts Kandhamal and Ganjam, some 200 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, a senior police official who led the police party told IANS.

Maoists are active in over half the state’s 30 districts. In February, they killed 14 policemen in multiple attacks on police stations and a government armoury in Nayagarh district.

After committing the crime, the Maoists had escaped into the Goshma forest. Although a large number of policemen had launched a combing operation in the forest, they could not arrest any Maoist.

“It is for the first time we nabbed the Maoists from that area,” the police official said. The weapons seized from them appear to be looted from Nayagarh armoury, he added.