Nine militants held in Manipur crackdown; arms seized

Imphal, May 17 (IANS) Nine extremists belonging to various banned groups were arrested in the past 24 hours from different districts of the trouble-torn state of Manipur in combined operations by security forces, officials said on Saturday.

A police official said that the nine militants were arrested from five districts -- Imphal East, Imphal West, Churachandpur, Thoubal and Bishnupur.

The arrested ultras belong to the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), Chin Kuki National Defence Force (CKNDF) and United National Liberation Front (UNLF).

The arrested militants were involved in abduction, different types of crimes, threatening people for various purposes, forcible collection of money from contractors, traders, government employees, common men and others.

Some arms and ammunition, Aadhaar cards, several incriminating documents and various other materials were recovered from the nine arrested militants.

According to the official, a detained CKNDF militant identified as Thongkhohou Touthang (34) is involved in the recruitment of youths for armed insurgency and cross-border arms and cadre movement.

Touthang is also involved in extortion from the public in the name of the CKNDF.

One mobile phone along with one SIM card were seized from his possession.

Manipur has a 398-km-long unfenced International Border with Myanmar and the Border Road Organisation (BRO) started work last year to fence the challenging frontiers.

Militants of various outfits are often involved in cross-border violent incidents taking advantage of the porous, mountainous and forested border.

With the arrest of nine more extremists during the past 24 hours, the security forces during the past four days have apprehended 38 guerrillas belonging to various banned groups.

The combined security forces have continued search operations and area domination in the fringe and vulnerable areas of hill and valley districts and recovered many arms and ammunition from Imphal East, Kakching and Senapati.

--IANS

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