Manipur radical group Arambai Tenggol returns arms, ammunition to authorities

Guwahati: Arambai Tenggol, a radical group of the Meitei community, surrendered more than 300 illegal arms to the state government at the 1st Battalion Manipur Rifles in Imphal on Thursday.

After Manipur governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla‘s appeal on February 20, more than 300 looted weapons, including many sophisticated arms and a large cache of ammunition have been returned to various security forces during the past week.

Members of Arambai Tenggol, in several vehicles, visited 1st Battalion Manipur Rifles in Imphal on Thursday. This came after the representatives of the group had met with Bhalla recently at Raj Bhavan and submitted a memorandum.

A senior police official said more such looted arms and ammunition are likely to be returned to the authorities in the coming days. The returned arms include AK series rifles, carbines, self-loading rifles, single-barrel rifles and mortars.

According to reports, during the ethnic riots between Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities since May 3, 2023, more than 6,000 different types of sophisticated arms and lakhs of pieces of different types of ammunition were looted from police stations and outposts by the mobs and militants.