Alarm over illegal arms with North Eastern militants talking peace
Guwahati: The northeastern states are extremely worried about the presence of a large number of illegal weapons in the hands of militant groups engaged in peace talks with government.
Informing that the regional conference of DGPs has decided to launch a coordinated operation to flush out illegal weapons, security sources told this newspaper that it has become the major area of concern for security forces, as there have been reports of militant outfits holding ceasefire with government are found to have been selling their weapons.
Referring to intelligence reports, security sources said that some of the militant outfits have lesser number of cadres than the stock of the sophisticated arms with them.
Asserting that security forces have specific intelligence inputs about cadres selling weapons, security sources said that most of the insurgent groups are on wane and their cadres are found to have been selling their weapons to poachers and even criminal gangs.
Security sources said that investigation has revealed that poachers have been using sophisticated weapons like AK-47 to kill rhino and it is suspected to have been sold to them by militants.
The ministry of home affairs has also directed the northeastern states to launch a coordinated operation to flush out illegal weapons. Security sources said that the use of weapons to intimidate civilians and extort money from various business houses has also become a major area of concern.
Security sources said that the cadres of militant outfit — NLFT of Tripura — which recently signed a ceasefire agreement with the government, have confessed to have been selling their weapons for their livelihood.
Pointing out that long international borders with five countries make the Northeast more vulnerable to security threats, security sources adding that these weapons have free movement in Myanmar, which gets them from China.
In fact, Bangladesh’s security apparatus is also worried over the flow of illicit arms into its territory from India.