Four members of the terrorist group Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) were arrested in Manipur's Imphal East district for kidnapping and assaulting a 23-year-old railway driver, the police said in a statement today.
KYKL is a terrorist group banned by the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is notorious for extortion demands from the common people in Manipur's valley areas, despite the people reeling from severe hardships amid the disruption in the state economy due to the ethnic violence that broke out in May 2023.
The railway driver Joshua Kamei was kidnapped from Noney district, the police said. A police team then raided a hideout of the terrorists and arrested four members of KYKL (SOREPA). The police said they have also recovered weapons.
The terror accused have been identified as Hijam Nikhil Singh (27), Hijam Thanglen Meitei (30), Thongam Ningthem Singh (32), and Gobin Elangbam (29).
The police seized an SLR, a .303 rifle and two four-wheelers. Two drug users, who were reportedly in the custody of the terror suspects, were also found during the operation, the police said in a statement.
Extortion Rising In Manipur
Many shop owners in Imphal have complained of being forced to pay up by random armed groups and banned terrorist organisations, despite failing businesses due to no economic activity for over a year since violence began in May 2023 between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the Kuki tribes, who are dominant in the hill areas of southern Manipur bordering Myanmar and some areas in the north.
"If you ask anyone in Imphal, they will say the same thing - extortion and thefts have increased. All businesses are dead. Where will money come from? People are stealing cooking gas cylinders, water pumps, anything they can get. Cooking gas costs over Rs 2,500 in the black market," an Imphal resident told NDTV on October 28, requesting anonymity.
Of the 39 terrorist organisations banned by the MHA, eight are Meitei outfits from Manipur.
The only Meitei group that has agreed for talks is the United National Liberation Front (Pambei), or UNLF(P). This outfit - which is one of the two factions of the oldest Meitei armed group - is overground now after it signed a tripartite peace agreement with the Centre and the state government in November 2023.
The rise in extortion cases in Manipur comes after nearly a decade of relative peace and calm. Startups and entrepreneurship in Manipur had been growing fast, boosted by central and state assistance policies, until the ethnic violence put brakes on all economic activity.
With inputs from PTI
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