IMPHAL, August 6: Imphal East district police arrested three cadres of two different UG outfits on August 4 during search operations and frisking conducted as a part of security measures ahead of the Independence Day celebration, the police said today.
The arms and ammunitions seized from the two were displayed before the media at a press conference held today at the Conference Hall of Imphal East district police headquarter.
Speaking to the media, Addl SP (Ops) M Rajen said that on August 4 at around 5 pm a team of Imphal East commandos led by Imphal East OC Achouba conducted frisking and checking at Lambulane Tribal Market under Porompat police station.
During the course of the operation, one person was seen moving in a suspicious manner and was detained for interrogation, the police officer said.
The person is identified as Solal Touthang alias Kansa alias Lalboy, 38, son of Jangkholun Touthang, of T Zordanphai village under Saikul PS and at present staying at New Lambulane.
During the interrogation he revealed that he was a member of KNO/KLA and got his basic military training under army number 0382 fourth batch in the year 2003 at Thongbul under Saikhul police station in Senapati district, the officer maintained.
The Addl SP further said that Solal Touthang joined KNF (N) in June, 2013 through s/s finance secretary Thangboi Haokip and he is now working under the command of one s/s sergeant Ranjit Kipgen of Sugnu.
He also revealed that the arrested individual was involved in extortion of money from the general public, government offices, private firms etc.
He recently under the instruction of the said person Ranjit demanded a sum of Rs 20,00,000 from retired Chief Engineer Gangte of IFCD at Dewlahland, the officer maintained.
The police officer further said that on the same day another team of Imphal East district police commando conducted cordon and search operations at Bamon Leikai area under Porompat police station.
During the search operation an active member of the PREPAK (pro) was arrested from the eastern side of the Bamon Leikai near Old Thumbuthong Bridge at around 7.30 pm, the officer said.
The arrested person is identified as Moirangthem Kalachandra alias Biren, 55, son of (L) M Ibotombi of Kwakeithel Mayai Koibi.
One 9mm pistol made in Italy with two live rounds and a mobile phone Beetal GD-555 with Airtel SIM card were seized from his possession, the officer maintained.
He further said that acting on the revelation of the arrested person Kalachandra, another active member of PREPAK (Pro) was arrested from Bamon Leikai at around 7:45 pm on the same day.
The 2nd person is identified as Khumukcham Bishwajit alias Nanao, 48, son of (L) Kh Budhichandra of Moirangkhom Bazaar.
One 9mm pistol made in Italy loaded with three live rounds was seized from his possession, he said.
From his revelation, two Chinese made hand grenades wrapped in a Nylon bag were also seized from the back yard of his house, he said.
During interrogation the two have admitted that they had extorted huge amount of money from general public, private firms, public enterprises and government offices etc, the officer said.
They also admitted that they used to transport arms and ammunitions from one place to another many times in the past many months, he added.
Meanwhile, Imphal West district police conducted cordon and search operation at Moirangkhom area under Imphal police station today early morning as part of the security measure taken up ahead of the Independence Day.
The cordon and search operation was conducted by a team of Imphal West district police led by Imphal West Dy SP (Commando) S Ibomcha from today early morning at around 4 at Moirangkhom Bukul Makhong area.
Men between the ages of 15 to 50 years were called out from their respective houses for verification.
Altogether 25 persons who failed to produce proper identification proof were detained and handed over to the Imphal police station for verification.
Speaking to the media, S Ibomcha said that the cordon and search operation is being conducted as a part of the security measure taken up by the police since the past few days to prevent any untoward incidents in the state Capital during the Independence Day celebration.