Bhubaneswar/Rourkela: Armed criminals hijacked a truck carrying four tonnes of explosives from a stone quarry in K Balang area of Sundargarh district on Tuesday, raising alarm within Odisha Police circles about suspected involvement of Maoists.The incident generated considerable unease among police authorities, given the quarry’s proximity to forested regions and concerns that the explosives theft may lead to broader sinister designs. According to police sources, the offenders, who allegedly held quarry workers hostage, identified themselves as Maoists.“We are not ruling out possible Maoist involvement. We are treating the incident with utmost priority given the circumstances of the crime and looting of explosives,” DGP Y B Khurania told TOI.The stone quarry at Banko is situated nearly 5-6 km from the Jharkhand border. Police sources said the truck carrying explosives arrived at the quarry around 10 am. About 25-30 individuals carrying guns and bows and arrows allegedly entered the quarry and held two labourers and a manager at gunpoint.The armed miscreants reportedly threatened the driver at gunpoint and told him to drive. They released him at Relhatu area under K Balang police station around 5 pm. The driver subsequently filed a complaint at the police station.DIG (north central range) Brijesh Rai stated, “Some armed persons came to the stone quarry and took away the explosive-laden truck. They unloaded the explosives about 1 km away. They fled with the DVR (digital video recorder) of CCTV cameras from the quarry site.”Sundargarh SP Pratyush Diwakar said the truck contained gelatine sticks. “Around 3-4 armed persons took away the truck to another spot where another 15 people unloaded the materials. We are trying to identify them,” Diwakar said, adding that police are investigating how the criminals managed to reach the site.Investigators are also puzzled how the perpetrators managed to acquire specific information about the delivery of gelatine sticks.