Imphal: Manipur Police on Saturday said the security forces made another major recovery in valley districts of Manipur after 15 July recovery of 86 weapons.
“In another significant step towards restoring peace and security in Manipur, many operations were conducted in the early hours of Friday by security forces in the valley districts namely Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal, Kakching, and Bishnupur,” Manipur Police said.
“Acting on specific intelligence about a large cache of arms, ammunition, and warlike materials concealed at various locations, coordinated operations were launched simultaneously at multiple sites in the peripheral and suspected areas of the valley districts. Joint teams, comprising the Manipur Police, CRPF, BSF, and the Army/ Assam Rifles, recovered the arms ammunition, explosives, and other warlike stores,” Inspector general of Police (Zone-II) K. Kabib told reporters at the Manipur Police Headquarters on Saturday.
A total of 90 weapons and and 728 ammunitions were recovered. The weapons were three AK series guns, one M16 gun, one Insas LMG, five Insas guns, four SLRs, seven 303 rifles, 20 pistols, four carbines, eight rifles, 20 SBBL/Bore Actions, three Anti-Riot guns, one lathode gun, three DBBLs, six Bolt Action guns, three two-inch mortars and one local made pipe gun.
The ammunitions were 21 grenades, 399 numbers of 7.62 live ammunition, 228 numbers of 5.56 live ammunition, 35 numbers of 303 live ammunition, 23 numbers of 9 mm ammunition, six ammunition of .32 mm ammunition, one HE mortar shell, nine tube launchings and six IEDs.
Twenty-one assorted magazines and 24 wireless handsets were also recovered.
“The success of these intelligence-led operations marks a major achievement in the ongoing efforts to neutralize armed threats and restore law and order in the violence-hit state,” the senior police officer said.
“These continued operations represent a major accomplishment for the Manipur Police and security forces in their mission to restore peace, uphold public order, and safeguard the lives and property of citizens,” said a statement issued by the office of the director general of Police, Manipur.
Manipur police urged the public to remain vigilant and to cooperate by reporting any suspicious activity or illegal possession of arms to the nearest police station or the Central Control Room. Senior police officials have assured that such operations will persist in a focused and sustained manner to bring lasting peace to the region.
Earlier, on February 27, security forces have recovered a total of 307 weapons out of which 246 were deposited by Arambai Tengol, a Meitei group. Later, on June 14 in a big weapon haul in Manipur for the second time 328 weapons and 10,600 ammunitions were also recovered. Later on July 4, 203 weapons and huge amount of ammunitions were recovered from hill districts, and 86 weapons and 974 ammunitions were also recovered from valley districts.
