Bhubaneswar: After meeting the Centre’s deadline of eliminating left-wing extremism (LWE) from the state by March 31, Odisha police have now embarked on a new mission — recovering weapons looted by Maoists from the security forces over the years.Police sources said that of 1,539 sophisticated arms — light machine guns, SLRs, sten guns, carbines, AK-47 rifles, pistols and revolvers — looted by the Maoists in Odisha, 929 (nearly 60%) have already been retrieved.“Our prime focus now is to ensure the remaining 610 looted arms are traced back to Odisha. We are confident of achieving this target soon. The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) has also prioritised the backtracking of these weapons,” said ADG (anti-Maoist operations) Sanjeeb Panda.Between 2001 and 2022, Maoists carried out multiple attacks at security establishments in the state to seize arms. The largest haul was in 2008, when they stormed the police training school and armoury in Nayagarh district, looting 994 weapons. Earlier, they had decamped with 489 arms from Koraput district police armoury in 2004 and 30 from Odisha Special Armed Police (OSAP) 3rd battalion in 2006.Following directives from Union home minister Amit Shah recently, states have been asked to compile databases of looted and recovered arms, and to share information to help identify and return them to their rightful owners. Each police weapon carries a unique body and butt number, making identification possible.Sources said that recently, Maharashtra police shared their seizure list with Odisha, enabling the state cops to identify 28 of their stolen arms. With large caches recovered in Chhattisgarh over the past 18 months, Odisha police expect some of those may also belong to the state.“We recovered 276 arms, of which 80 were ours and 196 belonged to other states. Three were tagged to Maharashtra. We will share the data with other states to facilitate their return,” Panda said.Police stress that recovery is crucial to prevent misuse of weapons and to block any chance of LWE revival. Police believe Maoists may have hidden arms underground in forested areas, and search operations are underway to locate them.