Thiruvananthapuram: The Thunderbolts and Kerala anti-terror squad (KATS), the specialized divisions of the state police, will be provided with more sophisticated equipment including hand-held GPS devices, and more number of bullet-proof jackets for jungle operations in the wake of reports on repeated sightings of Maoists in the state.The hand-held GPS devices will be useful while undertaking combing operations inside the forests in Wayanad and Malappuram and in areas of Palakkad, Kannur and rural Kozhikode where the Maoists were sighted. The devices will be useful for forces for sending the exact location while requesting reinforcement, identifying the coordinates of a landmark inside the forest and finding a point inside the forests.The government has issued orders to procure 27 hand-held GPS devices. The Centre had sanctioned 50 devices for the state police under the modernisation of police force scheme.The government has also sanctioned the purchase of 5,000 body protection equipment for the police at a cost of Rs 4.5 crore.The police had recently procured 200 self-loading rifles (7.62 mm) and 200 sub-machine guns of 9 mm carbine.The state police have stepped up their combing operations inside the forests after the shootout at Lakkidi in Wayanad on March 6, in which one Maoist cadre was killed, and the sightings two weeks later, on March 25 near forest inspection bungalow in Thirunelli. They had also pasted posters saying that they would avenge the killing of their cadre in Lakkidi.In a recent review meeting regarding the anti-Maoist action convened by the chief secretary, it was decided to procure bullet-proof body armour, so as to have a better defence in the wake of the face-off with the ultra-Lefts.

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