Naxalites reportedly have a budget of Rs 60 crore for procurement of weapons and explosives during 2007-09.

Giving the information in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said an arrested extremist had stated this during interrogation by the Jharkhand Police. He said no other details were available in this regard.

In reply to another question, he said as per information available, Naxalites have sophisticated weapons and communication systems. The extremists primarily get a substantial bulk of their weapons by looting and illegal weapon manufacturing units, Jaiswal said.

Responding to another query, he said the total number of Naxalite incidents had increased from 1,509 in 2006 to 1,565 in 2007.

There has, however, been a dip in statistic since 2005, with 1,608 such incidents reported in that year. The number of casualties of security forces had also gone up from 157 in 2006 to 236 in 2007, while in the same period, the number of civilian casualties decreased from 521 to 460.