"Strong Links With Myanmar Insurgents": NIA In Chargesheet Against Mizoram Arms Trafficker

The country's top anti-terror agency NIA has filed a chargesheet against a Mizoram resident in a transnational weapons trafficking case linked to Myanmar-based insurgent groups.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested the accused, Lalngaihawma, in February this year after a raid on a well-organised, large-scale illegal weapons supply network operating in some northeast states.

A case against him and others was already filed in December 2023 based on intelligence that some Mizoram-based groups have been trafficking weapons and explosives in the northeast region.

The NIA in a statement today said investigation found Lalngaihawma had set up "strong linkages with Myanmar-based insurgent groups".

"With their help, he used to receive arms, ammunition and explosives for supplying to insurgent and criminal groups. Lalngaihawma had also received huge funds through various channels, including his Myanma-based associates," the NIA said in the statement.

The NIA said Lalngaihawma had set up links with licensed arms dealers to pilferage both legal and illegal bore weapons. The charges against him include those under stringent provisions of the Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act, and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA.

Heavy fighting has been going on in Myanmar between pro-democracy ethnic rebels and the ruling junta. The junta has lost control over vast tracts of territory, including access to much of its international borders, allowing ethnic armed groups to expand and consolidate regions under their control.

Despite facing a common enemy, the Three Brotherhood Coalition comprising the ethnic armed groups Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and Ta'ang National Liberation Army have their own areas of influence and ambitions.

Nearly 40,000 refugees have taken shelter in Mizoram. A few thousands are in neighbouring Manipur, where the valley-dominant Meitei community and nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis - a term given by the British in colonial times - who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have been fighting since May 2023.

The Meitei community has alleged the involvement of Myanmar insurgents - especially from Chin State who share ethnic ties with Kukis -  in the Manipur violence, though the state security adviser Kuldiep Singh has denied Myanmar insurgents have a hand in the crisis.

"There is a possibility they [Myanmar insurgents] might have come. But there is no evidence," Kuldiep Singh told reporters earlier this year.