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The Manipur Police apprehended an active member of the banned group People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Imphal West District on Thursday.
The arrested individual, Thokchom Ongbi Anita Devi (46), was arrested from her residence at Sagolband Sayang Kurao Makhong under Lamphel Police Station in Imphal. During the raid, authorities recovered a range of items, including one pistol with a magazine, 18 live rounds of 9mm ammunition, and 15 live rounds of .38 ammunition. In addition to these weapons, police seized Rs 5,000 in cash, two Jio SIM cards, three Airtel 5G Plus SIM cards, six mobile phones of various brands, and several associated SIM cards. In a post on X, Manipur police posted, "On March 13, Manipur Police arrested one active cadre of PLA, namely, Thokchom Ongbi Anita Devi (46) from her residence at Sagolband Sayang Kurao Makhong under Lamphel-PS, Imphal West District. Following items were seized from her possession, 1 pistol with 1 magazine, 18 nos. of 9 mm live rounds,15 nos. of .38 live rounds, cash Rs 5000, 2 nos. of JIO SIM card, 3 nos of Airtel 5G Plus SIM card and 6 nos. of mobile phone of different brands and SIM cards." Meanwhile, in a significant step towards restoring peace in Manipur, Imphal West surrendered the highest number of weapons in response to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla's appeal to turn in looted illegal arms. According to a senior officer, during the two-week deadline for surrender of arms and ammunition, a total of 990 arms were surrendered with 11,526 ammunition. Around 366 hand grenades, 230 bombs, and 10 Improvised Explosive Devices have been recovered between February 16 and March 6 in 11 districts. The state has been plagued by ethnic violence since May 2023, and this development is seen as a positive move towards disarmament. The highest number of arms were surrendered in Imphal West district, with 349 and 5,764 ammunition surrendered in Imphal East. In Imphal West, 115 grenades were surrendered, the highest in number, and one Improvised Explosive Device (IED) has been recovered. The weapons and ammunition were surrendered in Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal, Bishnupur, Churachandpur, Jiribam, Kakching, Kangpokpi, Pherzwal, Tengnoupal and Tamenglong districts. The officer said that the figure would go up as more and more people were coming to surrender the looted weapons. The weapons surrendered include handguns, machine guns, grenades, and INSAS and AK-56 rifles. "We are in the process of identification of weapons and matching the details of arms that were looted," the officer said. Governor Bhalla on February 20 had initially set a seven-day deadline for the surrender of looted and illegal arms, which was later extended to March 6. The government is now in the process of identifying the surrendered weapons and matching them with the details of arms that were looted. He urged warring groups to surrender voluntarily weapons robbed from security forces and other illegally held arms and extended the deadline following demands by people from both hill and valley areas for additional time. (ANI)
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