Huge cache of arms, ammunition recovered, two women arrested
SHILLONG/NONGS-TOIN: Police have unearthed the formation of a new militant group after the recovery of weapons and ammunition belonging to the group called United People’s Revolutionary Alliance (UPRA) and the arrest of two women who were concealing the items.
After a search operation in the dense forests of Khalu in West KhasiHills and Rongcheng under South Garo Hills on Tuesday, the recovered items included one SLR rifle, three 303 sniperrRifles, one AK magazine, two SLR magazines, two 303 magazines, three Chinese grenades, seven VHF sets, 52 round of AK ammunition , one 134 rounds live SLR ammo, 23 rounds of live 303 ammunition, two rounds of live MMG ammunition , one letter pad containing 94 leaflets of United Peoples’ Revolutionary Alliance (UPRA),one pocket diary, one seal bearing ‘Matchadu Matchabet’ ( MM ) HQ Durama”, one seal bearing ‘Achik Matgrik Society’, medicines, 15 syringes, 7 needles, syrups. from Rongcheng under South Garo Hills.
Speaking to newsmen Superintendent of Police, West Khasi Hills, S Nongtnger said that acting on a tip-off about the presence of a person concealing weapons, a team from Shallang police station launched an operation on Tuesday morning at Khalu and Rongcheng under South Garo Hills, where they recovered arms, ammunition, grenades, VHF sets, documents and other materials. It is suspected that the seized arms belonged to the United People’s Revolutionary Alliance.
Police arrested two women namely Nosanchi M Sangma (19) and her mother Stilla M Sangma (50), both residents of Rongcheng village.
Nongtnger said that both the women had concealed the seized weapons inside Rongcheng jungle under South Garo Hills.
According to police, the recoveries are in the wake of arrest of one ex-ANVC (B) militant named Tengrak K Sangma @ Buga. After his arrest, police had recovered one AK 47 rifles, two SBBL guns, two AK magazines , 36 live AK ammunition from the same area recently.
United People’s Revolutionary Alliance (UPRA) might have been created to hoodwink the security forces by some militant groups , police added.
According to police, the seized materials are suspected to be hidden by militants with the ulterior motive of either selling them to other militant groups or using them for committing crimes later after official disbandment/surrender of the organizations. .
Police said that militants are active in all districts of Garo Hills as well as West and South-West Khasi Hills.
NSCN -IM active: Meanwhile, NSCN-IM is said that to be the main supplier of arms and ammunition to the militant outfits operating in Garo Hills.
Police officials said that NSCN -IM has been supplying arms and ammunition to GNLA, ASAK and other outfits for the last four years.
The supply list includes AKs, pistols, grenades and sometimes even light machine guns (LMG). According to police, these arms comes from Dimapur via Assam.