Imphal, June 7: Security forces in Manipur have made massive progress in recovering looted weapons and ammunition following the ethnic riots that occurred since May 3. In the past 24 hours alone, 57 automatic weapons and 318 rounds of ammunition were recovered, bringing the total count to 868 arms and 11,518 rounds of ammunition, a top official said on Wednesday.
Kuldiep Singh, the Security Advisor to the Manipur government, announced that the recent recoveries included 57 arms, 318 ammunition, and five bombs from the Porompat Police Station in Imphal East and Sugnu Police Station in Kakching districts of Manipur.
Singh also informed that the curfew was relaxed for 12-hour in five valley districts, while neighbouring hill districts had curfew relaxations for 10 and 8 hours.
Six other hill districts, namely Tamenglong, Noney, Senapati, Ukhrul, and Kamjong, remained unaffected by the curfew. The authorities ensured the movement of vehicles carrying essential items through National Highway-37 (Imphal-Jiribam).
In addition, Singh informed that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG-2023 for MBBS and BDS courses was successfully conducted at 22 centers across Imphal West (12 centres) and Imphal East (10 centres). The examination proceeded peacefully with normal attendance.
Meanwhile, the Indian Army released a statement stating that joint combing operations were carried out by security forces in sensitive areas of both the hills and valley sectors of Manipur. The primary objectives of these operations were to de-escalate tensions among communities and recover snatched weapons that are still in the possession of individuals.
As part of confidence-building measures, locals were urged to voluntarily surrender any illegal or snatched weapons before the search operations commenced. During the operations, which involved searching houses, forests, and fields, the security forces recovered 29 weapons (including automatic firearms), mortars, hand grenades, small arms ammunition, and warlike stores.
Importantly, the security forces ensured that local residents were not subjected to harassment during the conduct of these operations, the Army said.
