Shillong, Sept 27: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Monday emphasized the need to increase monitoring any attempt to form a new militant outfit or regrouping of militants in the state.

Speaking to media persons, Sangma admitted that the recent arrest of a social activist for seeking the help of the NSCN-IM to form a new militant outfit in Meghalaya is a matter of concern for the government.

“Yes, obviously, it is a matter of concern. We need to ensure that more and more monitoring needs to be done,” he said.

Stating that the state police are doing a very good job and that’s the reason why the government has been able to keep things under control, Sangma said, “Therefore, it is a great work that the police are doing and we must congratulate their work but more needs to be done.”

When asked, the Chief Minister said that the government has maintained from day one that different kinds of movement are taking place and it is the intelligence network which has been working very aggressively to ensure that “we keep a tap on all of this”.

“Therefore, when questions are asked by the press or public – is there an intelligence failure, in these kinds of situations one does not realize that there is a very strong intelligence network working and that’s why we are able to catch all of these, that’s why the incidents that happened in Tikrikilla where we are able to pick up people, the way we are able to nab people who are entering with ammunition in Tura, the way we were able to catch people who have gone for these trainings in different areas. So it is a concern but the police are doing their job, the intelligence department are doing their job, they are watching and making sure that anybody who is trying to cause any kind of law and order situation will not be left unpunished,” he stated.