Shillong: Meghalaya police on Friday arrested a Junior Commissioned Officer of the Indian Army after recovering a huge cache of military-grade ammunition and illegal wildlife items from his house in Ri-Bhoi district, an official said.
Based on and Military Intelligence (MI) inputs, a police team from Pillangkata outpost and Umiam police station in Ri-Bhoi district launched a coordinated operation at the residence of the suspect at 9th mile Baridua.
During the raid, police recovered and seized ammunition include 1052 AK-47 ammunition, seven LMG 7.62 ammunition, 14 INSAS 5.56 ammunition, 30.32 pistol ammunition, three empty cases, one tear smoke grenade, one hand grenade, one INSAS empty magazine, three AK-47 empty magazines.
Apart from the ammunition, several illegal wildlife articles include seven deer antlers, one lower jaw with teeth of a wild boar, one deer skull and 34 stamp seals from various government departments were also seized from the residence of the arrested JCO.
The suspect, a resident of Mizoram, is now in police custody after a case was registered under Khanapara police station under various sections of Arms Act and Wildlife Protection Act.
Intelligence officials said the arrested Junior Commissioned Officer of 42 Rashtriya Rifles in Jammu and Kashmir, had decamped the ammunition from the Indian army’s armoury with the sole intention to sell in trouble-torn Manipur.
“Interrogation is on to find out how he (arrested JCO) managed to hoodwink everybody and slipped the large cache of ammunition from Jammu and Kashmir all the way to the North East,” the official said.
Asked if the arrested JCO is linked with any militant groups in Manipur, the official said, “We are interrogating him on all fronts to find out whether he is actively linked to any such groups (militants) in this region and the network he is associated with and his ultimate motive.”
