SHILLONG/ JOWAI: A senior leader and two cadres of the rebel outfit NSCN-K were arrested in West Jaintia Hills on Sunday.
In a statement issued on Monday, SP Vivek Syiem said the Special Cell of the district police, which was acting on intelligence inputs, busted the outfit’s “finance cadres operating somewhere in Khliehtyrshi”.
The deputy secretary of revenue of NSCN-K, Gaising Maringmei alias Ronal (40), was arrested from a rented house at Mookyniang, Khiehtyrshi.
Ronal’s arrest led the police to two more cadres, Khamjang Rongmei and Thuanguangpou Kamei. Police seized Rs 2 lakh, SIM cards, mobile phones, documents and extortion notes from their possession.
Ronal told police that M/S Bharatiya Company Limited, which is involved in construction work in Manipur, had recently paid Rs 25 lakh in ransom on May 10 in West Jaintia Hills. Of the amount, Rs 13 lakh was being transported by Ronal’s wife, Tanthaoliu Gonmai, to Imphal on May 13 by a night bus from Shillong to Dimapur.
The information was shared along with Manipur police who then intercepted the bus and arrested Gonmai in Imphal West district and seized the extortion money. A team from the district police will be dispatched to Manipur for taking custody of Gonmai soon. Another cadre identified as Dimchiulungam, who is a courier of the banned outfit, was arrested from Police Bazaar with the help of Shillong police on the same day.
“The NSCN-K Finance wing appears to be using Jaintia Hills as its safe haven to elude the scanner of the security forces and carry on its extortion activity and finance network which includes procuring of arms and ammunition,” Syiem said.
A case has been registered against the accused persons. They have been produced in the court of the West Jaintia Hills District Sessions Judge and have got an initial police remand of four days.
A team under Jason Mairom, SDPO Amlarem, will investigate “the depth and extent of the finance wing of the NSCN-K in the district”.
