IMPHAL: Security forces have arrested six hardcore militants belonging to different banned insurgent outfits, recovered a large cache of arms, ammunition and explosives, and apprehended a drug peddler during separate operations conducted across different districts of Manipur in the past 24 hours, officials said on Tuesday.
A senior police official said that the six militants were arrested from Imphal West, Imphal East, Tengnoupal, and Kakching districts during intelligence-based operations carried out jointly by the police and other security agencies.
The arrested militants belong to the proscribed Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), the People's Liberation Army (PLA), its political wing, the Revolutionary People's Front (RPF), and the Socialist Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (SOREPA). According to the police, they were allegedly involved in a range of criminal activities, including kidnapping and the forcible collection of "subscriptions", a euphemism commonly used for extortion by insurgent groups.
In a separate anti-narcotics operation, the Manipur Police arrested an alleged drug peddler, identified as Letmintgang Haolai, 33, from the Tuibong area of Churachandpur district. Police seized 2.5 kg of brown sugar, valued around Rs 5 crore in the international illicit market, along with a two-wheeler used by the accused.
The hilly Churachandpur district shares an inter-state border with Mizoram and also has an unfenced international border with Myanmar. Police suspect that the seized narcotics were smuggled into the state from across the Myanmar border. (IANS)
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