Manipur police have confirmed that arms and ammunition have been looted from various police stations and armouries in the north-eastern state. The police said incidents of looting were reported from both hill and valley districts of the state.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Manipur Police said, “Security forces have been continuously raiding in the hill and valley areas to recover the looted arms and ammunitions. As a result of which 1057 arms and 14201 ammunitions have been recovered in the valley districts and 138 arms and 121 ammunitions have been recovered in the hill districts.”
Manipur police said another attempt was made to snatch weapons from a police team at Toupokpi police outpost in Lilong Chajing, Imphal on 5 August, but 'alert' police personnel were able to chase the miscreants and recover all four weapons.
According to a report in the Hindustan Times, LiveMint's sister publication, mobs have looted around 4,000 weapons and 50,000 rounds of ammunition from police stations and armouries since the conflict began. In a separate incident, around 500 people in more than 40 vehicles looted arms and ammunition from the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) camp at Naraseina in Bishnupur district on Thursday.
Indian Army arrests armed insurgent in Manipur:
Meanwhile, the Indian army said on Saturday that it had arrested an armed insurgent and recovered 'war-like stores' during a search operation in Bishnupur district.
The Spear Corps of the Indian Army, in a statement, said that under 'Operation Mongcham' multiple operations were launched in the aftermath of the incident at Kwakta, Bishnupur in the wee hours of Saturday after three the killing of three Meitei people.
Manipur has continued to convulse with violence since 3 May as ethnic clashes between the majority community Meitei and hilly tribes Kuki remain unresolved.
