Our Correspondent
Imphal, April 22 (EMN): Manipur police in the wee hours of Friday managed to round up four renegade cadres of the armed group Kuki Revolutionary Army(KRA) who were involved in attacking the oil tankers on the highways and frequent extortion activities.
The arrest of five KRA cadres and seizing of five mobile phones with 9 SIM cards from their possession was conducted by a combine team of police from Kangpokpi and Imphal East and West districts during an operation in and around Kangpokpi area, a hill station about 45 km north of Imphal along the busy Imphal-Mao sector of the blockade ridden National Highway 2 around 4 in the morning on Friday. The arrested cadres are Demminthang Haokip (38) of kangpokpi ward number 12, Saguulal Baite(30) of Lhangnom village, Hangoulen Haokip (18) of Satang kuki village and Thanglamoi Chongloi(30) of Taphou kuki village all under Kangpokpi district.
This was disclosed by the DGP Manipur LM Khaute during a press conference in Imphal on Friday. Stating that most of them were involved in attacking vehicles on the highways,kidnapping and other extortion activities, DGP Khaute said, “It is also came to know from their disclosure that they work with Kangleipak communist party(Lalheiba) and KNF(N) during anti-social activities and shared the funds,”
On April 18, unidentified gunmen, suspected to be Kuki tribal militants, opened fire at oil tankers in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district. The attack caused no casualty. The CRPF personnel escorting the convoy opened fire in retaliation and an exchange of fire took place. Two tankers, carrying petrol and diesel, were hit by the militants’ bullets. Police units were rushed to the spot after the information about the ambush was received. However, the militants managed to escape. The police officials suspect that it could be an extortion threat to the oil transporters. Since then police have been tracking the attackers and managed to round up during an operation on Friday morning.
