Imphal:
Arms and ammunition are being voluntarily surrendered across the hills and valley in Manipur, the authorities said today. The general public has expressed strong support for Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla’s call to return looted and illegally held weapons.
On Tuesday morning, the following items were surrendered to security forces in Imphal – 12 CMG guns, 2 .303 Rifles, 2 SLR rifles, 4 SBBL rifles, 2 magazines for .303 rifles, 12 magazines for CMG guns, 2 magazines for SLR rifles, 1 IED, 33 live rounds for .303 Rifles, 32 live rounds for SLR rifles, and 5 live rounds for SBBL rifles.
The surrendered weapons were displayed to the media by the joint security forces, officials said.
There are still two days left to hand over illegal arms and ammunition. As of Tuesday morning, over 30 looted weapons and ammunition have been voluntarily surrendered by the public to the security forces across both the hill and valley districts of Manipur.
Governor Bhalla on February 20 asked people to voluntarily surrender looted and illegally held weapons within the deadline, assuring no punitive action would be initiated against those giving up arms during this period.
Manipur Chief Secretary PK Singh on Sunday said the seven-day time given for voluntarily surrendering looted and illegally held weapons is enough if one wants to give up arms, and asserted that the forces would take action after the expiry of the period to recover such guns.
On 24.02.2025, the following arms and ammunition were voluntarily surrendered by the public to the following places in Churachandpur District as follows:
At CCP- PS, Churachandpur District.
i.01(one) no. of SLR 7.62mm with one Magazine.
ii.01(one) no. of .303 Rifle with one… pic.twitter.com/OOt5SERyaB— Manipur Police (@manipur_police) February 25, 2025
More than 250 people have been killed and thousands left homeless in the Meitei-Kuki ethnic violence that began in May 2023.
The Centre imposed President’s rule in Manipur on February 13, days after Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned from his post. The Manipur assembly, which has a tenure till 2027, has been put under suspended animation.
