Arms training of cadres underway at Haolenphai and Sahei
'PPF could be behind SDPO's killing'
Source: The Sangai Express / Waari Singbul Network
Imphal, November 02 2023:
Even as Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh has gone on record saying the sniper and the group involved in the killing of Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Chingtham Anand Kumar in Moreh have been identified and an all-out effort is underway to nab the culprits, highly placed sources said that the fatal attack was the handiwork of a newly set up group christened as People's Protection Force (PPF) .
The sources, who don't want to be named, said the shooting of the police officer was executed under the supervision of a commander of a Kuki militant outfit currently under the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with the State Government and the Centre.
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While the Security Advisor stopped short of revealing the identities of the people and group involved in the dastardly act that killed the decorated police officer, the sources said that the PPF, based at Moreh, had been planning to ambush the State Police's Special Commandos deployed to maintain law and order at the border town.
The sources revealed that three days ahead of the sniper ambush that killed SDPO Anand, functionaries of PPF and a Kuki civil body of Tengnoupal district engaged in a heated argument with the deceased police officer over why the police personnel were clearing the Eastern Shine School ground.
The deceased SDPO, along with 3rd Indian Reserve Battalion Commandant, H Balram and Superintendent of Police (Railways and Special Commandos), Th Krishnatombi Singh were supervising the clearance work of the school ground that started on October 26 to prepare a helipad.
The sources alleged that after the heated argument that took place on October 29, a co-founder of PPF who is an ex-serviceman, along with a commander of Kuki National Army (KNA) took position near a Meitei Baptist Church at Moreh, and using a 'brand-new' sniper, procured from Thailand border, shot the SDPO.
The source further revealed that miscreants at Moreh are extorting money from the residents of Moreh to buy ammunition, sophisticated weapons, particularly snipers, and also to bring in master trainers from Myanmar into Indian soil to train Chin-Kuki youths as PPF volunteers.
Furthermore, the sources said that the recruits are being sheltered and given arms training at Haolenphai and Sahei, the two Kuki villages lying along the India-Myanmar international border on the Indian side at Moreh.
They continued that the extortion drive in its initial campaign could manage to extort a whopping Rs 8.7 crore.
According to them, the extortion 'order' was issued by an influential Chin-Kuki body based at Moreh, under the authority of its president.
It also alleged that sophisticated weapons like snipers, assault rifles, rocket propellers, and explosives were recently purchased from Thailand and China.
A second batch of arms training of PPF volunteers is underway at Haolenphai and Sahei.
It is stated that the KNA commander involved in the sniper ambush was called in to supervise the training of the PPF.
Unprecedented ethnic violence erupted in Manipur on May 3, following a tribal solidarity rally that turned violent in Churachandpur district, leading to retaliatory violence between Chin-Kuki-Zo and the Meitei communities across the State.
On May 3 itself, violence spread to the international border town of Moreh, with Chin-Kuki miscreants attacking, looting, and burning down Meitei shops and homes in the main commercial town, forcing over 4000 Meitei residents to flee Moreh for safety.
Again, on July 26, a large mob torched over 30 abandoned Meitei houses and demolished several other properties.
Even as the State Government was using two helipads maintained by 5 Assam Rifles to access Moreh by air, it decided to make a new one at the Eastern Shine School ground for its movement as Chin-Kuki-Zo womenfolk prevented movement by blocking the road leading to the two helipads.