Ri-Bhoi police arrested a member of a banned terror organisation from Manipur yesterday evening.
According to police, the suspected militant was identified as Khundongbam Herojit Meitei.
Meitei is the finance secretary of the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) – People’s War Group (PWG), which is a banned terrorist organisation based in Manipur. He was hiding in a rented house located at Nongthymmai, 15th Mile, Byrnihat.
Meitei was involved in subversive activities like extortion and other illegal activities in Meghalaya as well as other neighbouring states, police alleged.
Based on information from sources, a counterinsurgency operation was conducted by a team of Ri-Bhoi police and Meitei was arrested at around 8:30pm.
Two mobile phones and other incriminating materials were seized from his possession, the police stated, adding that, under interrogation he admitted that he is a member of the KCP(PWG) and has been collecting money on behalf of the militant group.
Police said that it appears, prima facie, that he was hiding along the Assam-Meghalaya border to avoid arrest by security forces, who are taking strict action against militant organisations involved in creating law and order problems in Manipur.
Meitei is also suspected to be involved in criminal conspiracy with some Myanmar- and Nepal-based militant groups. He had been arrested last year in Manipur for suspected possession of illegal firearms and also in Nagaland’s Dimapur in 2018 in a case of drug trafficking.
