Imphal, Nov 15 (IANS) Security forces have arrested five militants belonging to different outlawed outfits and a Myanmar national allegedly involved in arms smuggling, recovering a cache of sophisticated foreign-made weapons and ammunition during separate operations in Manipur over the past 24 hours, officials said on Sunday.
A police official said that Assam Rifles personnel apprehended the Myanmar national, identified as Soetunou (48), a resident of Tamu in Myanmar, near Border Pillar No. 75 along the India-Myanmar border.
The operation was launched following specific intelligence inputs about the movement of three individuals carrying arms and ammunition across the international border.
While one person was apprehended, the other two managed to flee towards Myanmar, which shared around 400 km unfenced boder with Myanmar.
The weapons and ammunition recovered from the arrested Myanmar national included three AK-47 rifles with three magazines, 172 rounds of ammunition of different calibres, three grenades of different types, including a Chinese grenade, a 40-mm high-explosive (HE) rifle grenade and an M-46 Lathode grenade, two telescopic sights and a steel ammunition box.
In separate operations, security forces arrested five militants belonging to the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) from Bishnupur and Imphal East districts.
According to officials, the arrested militants were allegedly involved in extortion, including the forcible collection of money from traders and government employees, kidnapping and other criminal activities.
Meanwhile, a high-level security review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh on Saturday decided to intensify the ongoing combing operations to apprehend those involved in various incidents of violence and criminal activities across the state.
A senior official of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) had said the meeting also directed security personnel deployed at various security posts to further strengthen security arrangements in their respective areas of responsibility to prevent further incidents and maintain law and order.
The meeting, held at the Cabinet Hall of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat at Babupara in Imphal, reviewed the prevailing law and order situation in the state and discussed measures to improve the overall security environment.
The security review was convened against the backdrop of recent violent incidents at Taphou Kuki village in Kangpokpi district on Thursday and an ambush at New Heaven in Ukhrul district on Friday, in which five people lost their lives.
On November 12, a Kuki woman was killed in a gunfight between two rival groups in Kangpokpi district.
The following day, four Naga civilians, including two women, were killed in an attack by armed extremists in Ukhrul district.
–IANS
sc/khz