Imphal: Amid escalating tension in the state, following a fight between two factions, a mob broke into a police station in the Manipur town of Ukhrul and allegedly looted weapons, officials reported on October 2. A shootout broke out between two parties on October 1 over cleaning a disputed land in the town as part of ‘Swachhata Abhiyan,’ leaving three people dead and thirty people injured. During the period of violence, there was an attack on the police station. Following the altercation between two Naga community groups, the town implemented prohibitive restrictions and halted mobile internet access.
Following the outbreak of unrest in Ukhrul town, a group of youngsters, primarily, assaulted the Wino Bazar police station and set up camp with government firearms, according to an official. The amount and types of guns looted cannot be readily confirmed since an investigation is proceeding, he noted. However, unofficial accounts stated that rifles such as the INSAS and AK-47 were among the confiscated weapons. Previous reports of weapon loot came from a number of police stations in the ethnically divided northeastern state, but in each instance, the localities in question were dominated by one of the two opposing communities, the Meiteis or the Kukis. There has never before been a police station stormt in a region with a Naga majority, the insider said.
Manipur security adviser Kuldeep Singh recently said that miscreants looted more than 6000 weapons from state armouries during the ethnic clash that started in May 2023. whereby security personnel retrieved 2680 firearms so far. However, people possessed sophisticated weaponry, which made up half of the captured weapons. Thus, it is concerning that there are still a lot of weapons among the populace in the troubled state and disarming the civilians is topmost priority if peace is to prevail.
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