The recovered stores include one 9mm Carbine Machine Gun, one Sten Gun Mk-2, one .303 Rifle, one 9mm pistol, one Anti-riot gun, 14 Grenades, Ammunition and other War-Like stores.
A defence spokesperson said that the army launched a joint search operation, based on specific input about movement of suspicious individuals and presence of illegal arms and ammunition, along with SSB, Manipur Police including Commandos.The recovered items were handed over to police after the operation.
Manipur has witnessed repeated arms loot. Recently Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh reported a successful recovery, with 1,757 arms and 22,707 ammunition reclaimed from the approximately 5,600 arms and 6.5 lakh rounds looted from the Manipur Police armoury during the initial days of the violence.
Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey recently said that 219 persons lost their lives and displaced more than 60,000 people due to the violence. A total of about 10,000 FIRs have been registered so far and the state government handed over 29 cases to CBI and one case to NIA for independent and transparent investigation.
Manipur witnessed unprecedented violent clashes, attacks, counter attacks and arsoning of houses, vehicles and government and private properties in more than 10 districts during and after May 3 ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ called by the All-Tribal Students’ Union of Manipur (ATSUM) to oppose the demand for inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe category.
