A day after arresting a trained operative of separatist group People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of Manipur, investigations carried out by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) suggest that proscribed organisations based in Myanmar are recruiting workers to carry out attacks on security forces and members of opposing ethnic groups in Manipur.
The NIA had on Friday arrested PLA operative Moirangthem Anand Singh (45), hours after he was granted bail by a Manipur court. On September 16, Singh (45), along with four men, was arrested from Konga near Meitei Mayak School in Imphal East for allegedly wearing camouflaged uniforms and possessing an INSAS rifle, an SLR, two .303 rifles, and multiple magazines and ammunition.
They all were booked for criminal conspiracy, under the provisions of the UAPA and Official Secrets Act. They all got bail on Friday and Singh was arrested again by the NIA. He was brought to Delhi and produced before a court in the national capital on Saturday, which sent him to police custody for five days.
“On Friday, the NIA arrested Singh in a case related to a transnational conspiracy by Myanmar-based leadership of terror outfits to wage a war against the Central government by exploiting the current ethnic unrest in Manipur. The case was registered suo motu by the NIA on July 19 in Delhi,” an NIA spokesperson said.
“Investigation so far has revealed that in furtherance of the conspiracy hatched by the leadership based in Myanmar… proscribed terrorist organisations are recruiting OGWs, cadres and sympathisers to augment the strength to carry out attacks on security forces and opposing ethnic groups by exploiting current unrest in Manipur…And for this purpose, the Myanmar-based leadership are collecting arms, ammunitions and explosives by unlawful means, including plunder and pillage of government facilities and resources,” the spokesperson said.
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Singh had started working with Meitei separatist group PLA in 1991 and had undergone military training for the outfit. He later joined the Kangleipak Communist Party (Noyon) group and had been arrested seven times between 1997 and 2010.
In July, the NIA registered an FIR after they were directed by the Union Home Ministry to probe a larger conspiracy in connection with the Manipur violence. “We have received information that several militant groups were also involved in the Manipur violence and we started the investigation after registering an FIR,” a source said.
This is the second case which is being probed by the NIA, while other cases were handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In July, the investigation of a suspected IED blast case in Bishnupur district was handed over to the NIA from the Manipur police by the MHA.