Army recovers huge cache of arms & ammunition in Manipur

Kolkata, Sep 21 (IANS) A day after the Manipur government informed about the ingression of tribal militant outfits from Myanmar, the Indian Army in coordination with the state police recovered two caches of weapons and warlike stores during raids in Churachandpur, Thoubal and Imphal East.

The Army's Eastern Command, based in Kolkata, highlighted the efforts by troops to restore peace in the region, with the demilitarisation of the local population as a primary objective.

"In the first operation, a search operation was carried out a search in the heavily forested upper reaches of Thangjing Ridge in Churachandpur district. The operation led to the recovery of two 9 mm pistols along with two pistol magazines, a single-barrel rifle, two locally fabricated rockets measuring 5.5 feet and 3 feet respectively, a modified long-range mortar, two modified medium-range mortars, four mortar bombs, nine rounds of 9 mm ammunition, 6.2 kilograms of Grade Two explosives, and warlike stores," it was stated by the Army.

The army said that in a separate operation, acting on specific intelligence inputs, a team of Indian Army and Manipur Police carried out a search at Changbi village, located in the fringes of Thoubal and Imphal East districts.

“This operation resulted in the recovery of two carbines, two pistols, a single-barrel gun, nine hand grenades, eleven rounds of small arms ammunition and other warlike stores," it was further mentioned in the statement.

On Friday, Kuldeep Singh, security advisor to the Manipur government, revealed some extracts of the intelligence report that stated how the 900 militants had split into groups of 30 each and were planning to carry out acts of violence.

He said that security forces had been directed to carry out intelligence-based operations to seize weapons and other equipment that may be used by the militants. These weapons are not among those looted from police armouries, Singh had mentioned.

Over the last 16-odd months, ever since ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur, there has been a concerted effort by militant outfits to drive a wedge between various security agencies operating in the state.

Some stray incidents of verbal spats between personnel of different security forces were highlighted by these outfits in an effort to highlight the lack of coordination and a partisan attitude among some uniformed members of the police and Assam Rifles. The Army, which is in operational charge of the Assam Rifles, has always rubbished such claims made on social media.

In Saturday's statement, it was clearly spelt out that: "The successful recovery of these arms and explosives highlights the seamless coordination between the Indian Army and local law enforcement agencies, reflecting their shared commitment to ensuring the safety and security of the region. All recovered arms and warlike stores have been handed over to the Manipur Police for further investigation and legal proceedings."

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