NEW DELHI: With assembly elections scheduled to take place early next year in violence-torn Manipur, fresh security concerns have been flagged by ground forces, highlighting the seizure of more than 4,000 firearms, apart from those identified as looted police weapons, of which nearly 85 percent are already recovered.
Officials in the security establishment, while confirming seizure of such weapons, said the supply chains are suspected to have links across the border in Myanmar and, in view of this, forces have been asked to recalibrate their security strategy in close coordination with the intelligence agencies.
They said, in case of looted weapons, things are largely brought under control following a consistent multi-pronged strategy including appeals from high-ranking political and constitutional authorities, coordinated security and search operations based on intelligence inputs and community-level negotiations.
As a follow-up to these, the officials said, recovered and surrendered weapons - ranging from assault rifles (AK-series, INSAS, M16) to mortars and grenades – have frequently been cataloged and publicly displayed by the administration to build accountability and pressure on remaining holders to comply.
So far, the intelligence-based operations targeting illegal arms-smuggling networks and militant factions (such as arrests of UNLF-P cadres attempting to sell or move looted arms), have resulted in forcible recoveries of hidden or traded weapons, the officials said.
According to the officials, the data show that 5,066 of the 6,020 weapons looted from police establishments have been recovered, accounting for 84.15 percent of the total, which means that 954 such weapons remain untraced, raising concerns over their possible use by militant groups and armed miscreants.
However, security forces are more alarmed over the seizure and recovery of over 4,000 firearms apart from those identified as looted police weapons. The seizures point to an extensive network of illegal arms possession and circulation, the full scale of which is yet to be established, the officials said.
“Security forces, including Manipur Police, are conducting nearly half a dozen raids on an average every day, often deploying specialised units, to track down weapons and dismantle illegal arms networks having links across the border in Myanmar,” said a senior security official.
He said that most of the weapons recovered in recent operations are no longer from police armouries, including some old firearms as well as sophisticated and modified weapons, indicating that the challenge extends well beyond retrieving government-owned arms.
The officials said the forces suspect that a good number of these weapons have entered Manipur from neighbouring Myanmar. It is believed that some of the firearms can be identified through their make and characteristics, although their precise origin and supply routes would require further investigation, they said, adding that this was the reason the ground forces are asked to coordinate with intelligence agencies in their effort to break the supply chain.
“Raids have yielded firearms of foreign origin, including US-made M16A1 rifles and Russian-origin AK-series assault weapons. The recovery of such sophisticated firearms has intensified concerns about cross-border arms trafficking and the availability of military-grade weapons to armed groups,” the official said.
The sheer volume and variety of arms seized indicate that containing illegal weapons and disrupting their supply networks will remain central to restoring lasting stability in Manipur, the official noted.
