The police arrested three woman Maoists under Koyyuru Police Station limits in Visakhapatnam Agency on Monday.
They were identified as Marri Valasi @ Rame, Vanathala Lakshmi @ Sangeetha and Korra Devi @ Seetha.
Of the three arrested, Valasi carried a cash award of ₹4 lakh and the other two had ₹ 1 lakh each.
The police said Valasi (30) had joined the Maoist party in 2007 and became Area Committee Member in 2017. She participated in five encounters with the police both in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh between 2016 and 2020. The police recovered 3kgs of explosives packed in a food carriage, detonators, one country made pistol and some ammunition from her.
Vanathala Lakshmi(23) was party member and had participated in two encounters with the police that took place in Chintapalle (2020) and Koyyuru (2021).
Korra Devi (20) was member of Galikonda Dalam and gained expertise in blasting mines. The police recovered a steel carriage containing 2 kgs of explosives and four detonators from her.
About a week ago, the CPI (Maoist) had released a letter alleging that the police had arrested these three Maoists and were illegally keeping them in confinement. They demanded that they be produced before the court immediately.