Days before polling, three militants held with arms

Three hardcore cadres of the militant outfit People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) were arrested late on Monday night by Imphal (West) police commandos following widespread frisking operations across the city.

The trio—L Binoy, a self-styled 2nd lieutenant, Ginkhansian Zou and Paulun Zou—were arrested after they were searched for travelling in a vehicle without number plates in the Lamsang assembly constituency area. An AK-56 with two magazines and 30 live rounds, a US carbine, a country-made bomb, a detonator and a lathode gun with five shells were also recovered from them, SP, Imphal west, Clay Khongsai said on Tuesday.

In the buildup to the elections, a supporter of sitting Congress MLA from Lamsang, Brajabidhu Singh, had been shot dead. The PREPAK claimed responsibility for the killing which they said was carried out for the MLA failing to share his election funding with the outfit.

While police sources said it was too early to say if the arrested trio were responsible for the killing, they informed that militants were being hired by candidates to disrupt their opposition’s election campaign.