SFs recover 40 looted sophisticated arms
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, June 03 2023:
Security forces recov-ered 40 sophisticated automatic arms that were looted since the ethnic riots broke out, from the police and various secu-rity forces, an official said on Saturday.
Defence sources said that the Army and Assam Rifles along with Manipur Police and other Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) commenced area dom-ination operations in the hills and valley area across Manipur on Saturday.
As part of a joint strategy for recovery of snatched weapons, these operations are significant for restoring peace and would continue in a calibrated man-ner.
Conducted under the sur-veillance cover of drones and quad-copters, the operations have so far resulted in recovery of 40 weapons (mostly auto-matic), mortars, ammunition and other warlike stores," a Defence spokesperson said.
After Union Home Minister Amit Shah's appeal on Thurs-day, 144 sophisticated loot-ed arms were surrendered in different districts till Friday evening.
Meanwhile, the Defence spokesperson said that during the conduct of these opera-tions, adequate measures were undertaken to ensure that the locals are not harassed and personal safety and security is maintained.
Following the directions from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, security forces have once again appealed to all those in possession of snatched weapons to surrender the same at the earliest to ensure peace and stability in Manipur.
Security forces also warned that failure to surrender these weapons would make all such people liable for strict legal ac-tion.
Thousands of different types of arms and large quantities of ammunition were looted by the miscreants and the agitated mob from many police stations and security camps during the ethnic violence since May 9.Police said that except one incident in Imphal West dis-trict, no major violent incident has been reported in the last 24 hours.
Officials said that currently, around 37,450 people from dif-ferent communities are being sheltered in 272 relief camps, including community halls, in 13 districts.
The Army, Assam Rifles, various CAPF, state police and Manipur Rifles personnel have continued their vigil and oper-ations in all the 11 trouble-torn districts.
( with inputs from IANS ) .