India, May 30 -- A DIG-led three-member team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday started a probe into the theft of around 1.5 tonne of gelatin sticks from a truck on the Odisha-Jharkhand border by suspected Maoists on May 27 (Tuesday).

Around 9.30 am on Tuesday, eight armed people rounded up the explosives-laden truck near a forested stone quarry at Banko within K Balang police limits, more than 90km from Rourkela, and drove the vehicle to a nearby forest where they unloaded the explosives and let the truck driver go.

The driver, Debnath Toppo, told the police that another 10-15 people waiting inside the forest then looted at least 150 packets of explosives, each weighing 15-25 kg. The loot site is barely two km fro...