Manipur: More than 1,000 looted, illegal weapons given up during surrender period

Manipur Police has said that more than 1,000 weapons were returned during the two weeks provided to surrender looted and illegal weapons in the state, PTI reported on Friday.

The deadline to surrender the arms ended on Thursday.

The number was provisional and may increase after more information is collated from all districts, PTI quoted the police as saying.

The surrendered weapons include handguns, machine guns, grenades, mortars, Indian Small Arms System rifles and AK-56 rifles.

Manipur has been mired in ethnic conflict between the Meitei and the Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities since May 2023. The violence has left at least 258 dead and displaced more than 59,000.

Since the conflict began, about 6,000 weapons have been looted from state armouries, according to The Indian Express. About 1,200 of these weapons had been recovered in security operations, according to an update provided by Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh in September.

On February 20, Governor AK Bhalla urged people from all communities to surrender the looted weapons at security establishments within a week, and assured them that no punitive action would be taken. He had warned of strict action for possessing such arms after the deadline.

On February 27, armed Meitei group Arambai Tenggol surrendered 246 weapons before security forces in Imphal. This was the largest set of illegally-held weapons surrendered in Manipur since the conflict began.

However, on February 28, the...

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