Assam Rifles troopers on Tuesday rescued a 56-year-old Meitei man who was spotted at Motbung Bazar of Kuki dominated Kangpokpi district of Manipur amid the ethnic strife.
An official source said that the troops of 22 Assam Rifles intercepted the man in an auto-rickshaw at Motbung Bazar in the morning today.
He was immediately picked up and transported upto Sekmai of Imphal West bordering Kangpokpi where he was handed over to the police. The source said that the man went to Motbung Bazar for trading purpose on his auto-rickshaw. The troops of AR troopers rushed to the place after they were informed of a Meitei individual in the area around 9.15 am.
The troops under the supervision of its CO picked the person later identified as Chingsubam Ningthem (56) of Awang Leikenthabi and handed over to Sekmai police station. The police further handed over the man to his family members, the source said. Meanwhile, in the ongoing search operation, police on Tuesday intercepted a bag with arms, ammunition and explosives in it during a joint operation with Central security forces in the fringe area of Imphal East district.
An official source said that the cache of arms, ammunition and explosives was recovered during a search operation at Moirangpural Khunou Leikai area under Thoubal Dam Police Station of Imphal East district.
Imphal East district police conducted the operation along with the troops of 1/3 Gorkha Rifles and B-coy of 29 battalion BSF today morning.
As many as 35 houses were searched and occupants of the houses were verified during the operation. No one was picked up on suspicion, the source said.
It, however, added that during examination of a bag intercepted near the eastern wall of Moirangpural High School, it found a cache of arms, ammunition and explosives.
The police in strife-torn Manipur have been carrying out search operations in the fringe and vulnerable areas of districts affected by the ongoing ethnic violence to recover arms, ammunition and explosives looted from the police and state security forces after the outbreak of ethnic clash on May 3 last.
A total of 5,668 arms along with ammunition were looted during the initial stage of the violence and after failing to surrender despite repeated appeals from the government side, the police along with the state and the Central forces have been conducting search operations to recover the missing arms, ammunition and explosives since mid-September.