Imphal: Central security forces and civil police in Manipur uncovered two temporary insurgent camps and seized a significant cache of firearms and explosives during anti-insurgency operations in Imphal West and Imphal East districts on Friday, police reported on Saturday.
Search operations in the vulnerable and fringe areas around Ngairangbam and Khongakhul villages under Patsoi police station, Imphal West district, yielded warlike stores of weapons, including firearms, ammunition, and explosives.
Although no arrests were made during the two-hour operation, substantial caches of weapons were recovered.
The recovered items included a modified .303 rifle with a magazine, a locally made SBBL, five pistols with five magazines, an air pistol, a No.36 HE grenade, twenty rounds of .303 rifle ammunition, a Baofeng hand-held set with charger, and a bulletproof jacket cover.
During the second phase of the operation in the foothills of the Chanung Hill Range under Sagolmang police station, Imphal East district, the joint team recovered several military articles.
These included a .303 rifle with magazine, an SLR without magazine, eight SBBLs, a revolver pistol, a .22 pistol with magazine, twenty-four rounds of live ammunition of different calibers, an MK-13T cartridge, five tube launching devices, six Lathode shells, five Baofeng walkie-talkie sets with batteries and three chargers, four camouflage helmets, nine pairs of camouflage pants, five camouflage shirts, three camouflage sweatshirts, a green belt, and four camouflage hats.
Police added that all recovered articles were later deposited at the concerned police stations for further investigation and action.