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Antiquated service weapons collected by the Nagaland Police on display at the police establishment’s ‘archive stall’ at Kisama village, in Kohima on December 10. (EM Images)[/caption]
Kohima, December 10 (EMN): Visiting the Nagaland Police’s ‘archive stall’ at Kisama in Kohima was a unique experience. During the ten-day long Hornbill Festival, the section was abuzz with visitors especially the young, who wanted a glimpse of the real deal they had been seeing only on TV or computer and mobile games.
According to Armed Branch Sub inspector Wapang, the curator for the stall, this was the first time that the armaments had been shipped out of the Nagaland police’s museum at Chumukedima, in Dimapur. He said that most of the armaments at the exhibition were not functional and cannot be made to fire.
"Most of the weapons on display were the ones Nagaland Police have used as their service weapons while some on display were either retrieved during operations against anti-social elements," he said.
A section of the gallery that was the main crowd puller was the one displaying the uniforms of naxalites; with ‘tiffin’ bomb, grenade; pressure-release landmine accessories; claymore mines with timers, and pellets. They were seized and brought home by the 9th Indian Reserve Battalion policemen after their operations in Chhattisgarh.
Other interesting service weapons on display included rare and antique Japanese type-89 grenade discharger aka knee mortar.
A favourite weapon for the visitors was the Dragunov sniper rifle, which is a semi-automatic sniper rifle/designated marksman rifle developed in the former Soviet Union.
Another rare piece that was displayed at the exhibition was the Japanese Arisaka rifle. It is a member of the family of Japanese military bolt-action service rifles in production and use since approximately 1897, when it replaced the Murata rifle (Murata-jü) family until the end of World War II in 1945.
Along with an array of guns ranging from handguns to rifles; rocket launcher to mortars, some live rounds of various guns were also put up on display for educational purposes.
