Ranchi, Dec 24 (IANS): A conspiracy hatched by Maoists allegedly to kill police personnel was thwarted in Jharkhand's Latehar on Friday as the state police recovered 25 tiffin bombs from the Bairiya jungle in the Manika police station area and destroyed them on the spot.

Latehar Superintendent of Police, Anjani Anjan said that she had received information that explosives had been laid on the way to kill police personnel deployed to guard the jungle area.

A search operation was conducted by the Jharkhand police on Friday during which they recovered 25 bombs planted in the ground. Each bomb weighed nearly 20 to 25 kg.

If the plan of the Maoists had been successful, it could have led to heavy casualties among police officials. Usually policemen walk on foot in the forest areas so the Maoists had planted bombs in a series to kill police officials in large numbers.

The police took charge of the surrounding area before defusing the explosives. At the time of defusing them, there was a massive explosion that shook the whole area.

Assistant Commandant of CRPF 11 Battalion, Chandrashekhar Singh Kushwaha, Station House Officer Shubham Kumar and police and CRPF personnel were involved in the search operation.

Earlier on December 21, nearly 50 kg of explosives containing ammonium nitrate were recovered by the police from the Sadar police station area of Lohardaga district and two people were arrested.