Houses burnt over arms case
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 26 2023:
Angry locals of Kairang Muslim Awang Leikai today dismantled and burnt down houses of two persons who have been accused of selling guns to Kuki militants amid the violent conflict between the Meiteis and the Kukis.
The two persons, identified as Md Hasan (40) of Kairang Muslim Awang Leikai and Abdul Rasid alias Ithem (50) of Khomidok Sorok Mapal, are among four arrested by the police for allegedly selling guns.
Md Hasan is a cook in the IRB.
The other two arrested by the police have been identified as Md Nursafi (33) of Heikrumakhong Kewa Makhong and Md Sanayai (46) of Khomidok Sorok Mapal.
Police recovered several arms and ammunition from their possessions.
|
Police recovered one 9 mm Pistol with empty magazine, one .22 Pistol with empty magazine, one Air Pistol, two 5.56 mm INSAS Magazines, one .303 LMG Magazine with 21 numbers of live ammunition, one four wheeler Tata Ace, one Mahindra Bolero and two mobile phones.
According to sources, the houses of the two persons were vandalised in the morning and later burnt down by a large mob.
Locals said that they got information about the presence of some weapons, snatched by a mob from MPTC Pangei in the early days of the violence, in their area.
The locals then asked them to hand over the weapons to the Zilla Parishad, local MLA or to the Heingang police station.
One of the two persons, Md Hasan had then claimed that the guns had been handed over to the 7th Manipur Rifles.
However today morning, the other person, Adul Rasid was picked up from his Khomidok Sorok Mapal residence by a team of police in connection with the arms snatching case.
On getting the information, a mob then stormed the house of Md Hasan accusing him and Abdul Rasid of selling the snatched guns to the Kuki militants.
When the locals were inquiring about the matter (related to alleged selling of guns to Kuki militants), police came at Md Hasan's residence and picked him up.
After both Md Hasan and Md Rasid were arrested by the police, angry locals then stormed and dismantled their houses and later burnt them down.
The locals said, people of Kairang and Khomidok will hold a meeting in the coming days and decide whether they will allow both of them to stay in the area or not.
On the other hand, Heingang police produced weapons seized from the four accused persons at the station today afternoon.
Acting on credible information about the presence of some arms smuggling gang, a combined team of Imphal East Commandos and 16 Jat Regiment conducted search operations at Kairang Awang Leikai, Khomidok and Heikrumakhong and arrested the four persons.
Police said preliminary investigation has revealed that Md Hasan and Md Rasid had sold weapons earlier and received Rs 6 lakh cash and Md Nursafi and Md Sanayai were involved.
While warning of legal action against those found selling arms and ammunition snatched from the police, it appealed to the public and persons concerned to hand over and deposit the weapons.