Manipur rebels held in West Jaintia Hills

JOWAI: Two senior rebels of a Manipur-based terror group were arrested in West Jaintia Hills late on Sunday night.
The district police said in a statement that the members of the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) were travelling from Silchar to Guwahati.
The duo was identified as ZUF’s 66-year-old chairman Raitu Chawang alias Raitu and 43-year-old information secretary Gengchung Pou Namthuyang alias Dangmei.
The West Jaintia Hills police had intelligence inputs from their Manipur counterpart about the ZUF members travelling in a night bus from Silchar. A naka was put up at Phramer. The two were arrested from an Assam registered bus around 2.30am. Their mobile phones were seized.
Raitu and Dangmei admitted to be members of ZUF.
They were produced in the court on Monday evening and later were remanded in judicial custody till the Manipur police arrive.
ZUF is a militant group active in Manipur and Nagaland. It has a military wing called Zeliangrong Tiger Force. Raitu and Dangmei are wanted in Manipur’s Tamenglong district in connection with five cases under the Arms Act.
Earlier this month, a gun fight between ZUF and NSCN(IM) was reported from the district as the former wanted to flush out the cadres of the rival group.
A team of Tamenglong police will soon arrive in West Jaintia Hills to take the arrested cadres in custody.
This is the second time in three months that rebels from neighbouring states were arrested in Jaintia Hills.
The special cell of the West Jaintia Hills police arrested three rebels of NSCN-K in May. The National Investigation Agency will take over the investigation into the group’s extortion activities.