If the release of Biju Janata Dal legislator Jhina Hikaka , taken hostage by Maoists in Odisha more than a month ago, comes as a relief, then the Centre and governments in the Naxal-affected states should brace for much more. For, abduction and blackmailing top the extremists' strategy in their war against the state, a secret intelligence report accessed byhas revealed.Even as Hikaka was freed after several rounds of negotiations and 33 days of his captivity, the fate of the abducted collector of Sukma district in the neighbouring Chhattisgarh -- Alex Paul Menon -- continues to be unclear. The faces of these two men have been beamed across the country and the negotiations to keep them alive continue to make headlines.However, the relief after Hikaka's release is shadowed by a frightening reality. An interrogation report of a dreaded extremist suggests that the country should probably get used to the abductions of VIPs by the Naxals.A secret Intelligence Bureau (IB) report suggests that the Maoists' expansion plan has been as meticulous and carefully organised. While they have been strengthening their cadres by enlisting educated rebels to lead the cause, they are also inducting technically proficient men and women, capable of setting up weapons factories and advanced offensive hardware.Apart from the regular weapons Maoists are normally associated with, they now have facilities to manufacture parts for even complex systems like grenade and rocket launchers. The IB report also establishes that the Maoists are aided in their efforts to build modern weapons by the Chinese intelligence.Shockingly, revelations of the supremely concealed Maoist war factories were spelt out in great detail by captured Maoist mastermind Sadnala Ramakrishna, who was apprehended recently in Andhra Pradesh. The rebel leader has provided agencies a disturbing picture of the weapon manufacturing and maintenance industry the Maoists have built up in the forests.The Maoists have seven such arms factories, which they call Technical Research Arms Manufacturing Unit (TRAM). These units are manned by 15 scientists who oversee production and supply of weapons and systems to the Maoist cadres. From rocket launchers to grenade launchers and from assault rifles to mortars, the Maoists have ramped up their self-reliance making it less necessary to seek weapons from outside.So meticulous and entrenched is their business that the Naxals even have bank accounts, fronted by aliases and used with impunity to pay hardware companies in Mumbai and Kolkata for essential nuts and bolts that cannot be made in the jungles.A deadly mix of engineering talent, a frugal outlook to resources and the desperate need for firearms have resulted in an industry taking birth in the forests of central India. The secret report accessed by Headlines Today also indicates the spreading of the movement to the North East region, where assistance from China has only helped in the terror linkages.The IB report accessed byestablishes that Chinese intelligence units have been training, arming and funding the Maoists to help them wage a violent and seemingly inexorable war against India.The report reveals that China has been organising the Maoists and militant groups from Jammu and Kashmir and the North East region into a single war-fighting machine to hit Indian states. This secret report was recently sent to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram and the senior members of the security establishment.The report also makes specific warnings pointing to how Chinese intelligence agency has been pushing Manipur-based militant outfit -- People Liberation Army (PLA) -- which it funds into a cooperative arrangement with Maoists and Kashmiri terror groups.Disturbingly, the report is replete with specific observations and specific pieces of intelligence on China's dirty game. It reveals how Maoists have been training in Nagaland, funded by the Chinese. It shows how certain Maoist units are now being given encrypted wireless communication devices.The warning cannot be clearer or more specific. With India rocked on three fronts by militancy, the potential coming together of the Naxals could be India's biggest challenge so far.