Return looted arms in 15 days or face stern action, warns Manipur govt

The Manipur government on Friday night, 22 September warned people, who have looted arms, to deposit them within 15 days, otherwise stern legal and security measures would be taken against them.

A release, issued from Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s office said that all illegal weapons held by any person or groups across the state should be surrendered forthwith or within a period of 15 days from Friday.

The state government is willing to take a considerate view for the persons depositing such illegal weapons within these 15 days.

"At the end of the 15 days, security forces, both of the Centre and the state, will undertake a strong and comprehensive search operation all over the state to recover such weapons, and all persons associated with any illegal weapons will be dealt with severely, as per the law," the statement said.

It said that there have been reports of extortion, threats and abduction by miscreants/ groups using these illegal weapons.

"This is a serious matter and the state government will take strong action against such miscreants/groups in any part of the state," the release said, appealing to the people of the state to cooperate with both the Central and state government in restoring peace and normalcy in the state.

Accepting the recommendations of the Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC), the state government on Thursday, 21 September has directed the Director General of Police to recover the arms and ammunition, looted during the ethnic riot from the armouries of security forces and the Churachandpur gun shop.

According to various reports, during the ethnic riots, which broke out on 3 May, over 4,000 different types of sophisticated arms and lakhs of different kinds of ammunition were looted from the police stations and police outposts by the mobs and attackers

Inspector General of Police, Operations, I.K. Muivah last week said that of the weapons that had been "lost", 1,359 firearms and 15,050 various types of ammunition were recovered.