Imphal, May 13 2010: On top of looting 12 vehicles coming from Moreh at Thamnapokpi along Imphal-Moreh Road of National Highway 39, unidentified armed persons, suspected to be cadres of the NSCN (IM), threatened the drivers against plying along the said route again.

According to information received by the press, the incident occurred in the night of May 11 at Thamnapokpi while in all 13 vehicles including Tata Sumos and Maruti vans carrying passengers as well as goods were coming from Moreh.

One of the vehicles, a Maruti van, however, managed to escape as the unidentified armed persons started seizing the passengers of their mobile phones.

From there, the remaining 12 vehicles were made to drive upto a spot just half a kilometre from Komlathabi through Molnoi.

All the vehicles and passengers were detained for more than 3 hours and the armed looters asked the passengers and the drivers to hand over whatever money they had in their possession.

The armed looters also assaulted the passengers and the drivers.

Later on, the vehicles were again made to be drived upto Liwa Sarei where the passengers were made to alight and walk on foot while the loaded vehicles were taken to a place about 10 kms from Chandel district headquarters and the contents were unloaded.

The place was manned by around 50 persons armed with sophisticated weapons.

After loading all the looted goods on to a Shaktiman which was already waiting there, the 12 empty vehicles were released with the warning against plying along Imphal-Moreh Road in future and reporting the incident to the police or the media.

The total value of the properties and other valuables looted has been estimated to be around Rs 15 lakhs.