Imphal, Sept 20: Manipur police have invoked stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Official Secretes Act against the five men who were arrested on Saturday.
According to police, the five men were arrested with two weapons—an INSAS rifle and a self-loading rifle—and 128 rounds of ammunition, which were looted from police armouries in the initial days of the ethnic strife in Manipur in May and June.
One of the five, has been identified as a 45-year-old former cadre of banned insurgent outfit People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of Manipur. He has been booked under NSA apart from UAPA.
On September 16, after their arrests, a mob led by women vigilantes from the Meira Paibi group attempted to storm the police station where they were being held. Since Sunday, there have been protests, and a 48-hour shutdown has also been called.
The Meira Paibis, the woman vigilantes of Imphal Valley, have been asking for their release.
Police said that now a new trend has started in the ethnic unrest-hit state where armed miscreants wearing uniforms uniforms or army fatigues with sophisticated arms looted from police armoury are carrying out extortion and issuing threats there under mining peace restoration efforts.
“We have started a crackdown against them. If anyone is found with arms, they will be arrested,” said the police.
He said, “The state police are making an all-out effort to restore normalcy. But such acts of armed miscreants have hampered the efforts that the police have been making”.
Manipur additional home secretary Maharabam Pradeep said that there has been an increase in the number of complaints related to extortion and threats in the valley districts of the state.
On the other hand, normal life in Manipur was affected on Tuesday (September 19), the first day of a 48-hour statewide bandh called by various civil society organizations, demanding the unconditional release of the five arrested individuals.
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