Explained: Is Manipur becoming a new Cambodia?

"The violence-affected state is almost becoming like Cambodia, a hub of illegal arms trade," said a senior official from India's security agency. The reason behind the claim made by the security agencies is the fact that a top NSCN-IM cadre has been accused of running an illegal gun racket. Reports ETV Bharat's Gautam Debroy.

New Delhi/Imphal: Security agencies working round the clock in strife-torn Manipur have compiled a report suggesting that arms and ammunition in the state are being sold illegally.

"The violence-affected state is almost becoming like Cambodia, a hub of illegal arms trade," said a senior official from India's security agency. The reason behind the claim made by the security agencies is the fact that a top NSCN-IM cadre has been accused of running an illegal gun racket.

The arrested functionary of NSCN-IM has been identified as Shiningson Chilhang, a self-styled captain of the Naga outfit. More than 4,000 weapons and six lakh rounds of ammunition have been looted from police stations and the armouries in Manipur since the violence broke out in the state on May 3.

M Chilhang was arrested earlier this month following a joint operation launched by Assam Rifles, Army and Manipur Police. "One 9 mm carbine, with five live rounds, has been recovered from him," the official told ETV Bharat on condition of anonymity. During interrogation, Chilhang disclosed that he had procured the carbine and ammunition for Rs three lakh from a valley-based person.

"This carbine was looted from the Manipur police armoury," the official said. The official added that Assam Rifles was tracking the movement of Chilhang as he had a past record of gun-running.

"The police and central forces operating in the state have been getting tip-offs about looted arms being sold to various militant outfits active in Manipur as well as other neighbouring states," the official said.

Of the total 4,000 missing weapons and several other pieces of ammunition, the security forces could recover only 1,195 weapons and 14,322 ammunition till August 5.

Lt Gen (Retd) John Ranjan Mukherjee told ETV Bharat that strife-torn Manipur has turned into a hub of illegal arms trade and it has become a new Cambodia. Mukherjee has commanded a brigade and a division in the Northeast.

He is presently the president of the Kolkata-based security think tank Centre for Eastern and North Eastern Regional Studies Kolkata (CENERS-K).

Cambodia had been the most important market for a wide range of ammunition in Southeast Asia until the source dried up following the massive destruction of "firearms for peace" as part of a European Union project launched in the late 1990s that exchanged arms for development projects chosen by villagers. It reported that the project succeeded in destroying an estimated 2,08,000 weapons from 1999 to 2006.

Significantly, an interrogation of a Thai arms dealer, Willy Naru by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2015-16 has also revealed the direct involvement of Chinese ordnance factories in supplying arms to Indian rebels through linkmen.