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At Least 13 People Abducted From Different Parts of Manipur in One Week

Of those arrested in the 10 cases filed, two are members of the powerful Meitei militia group Arambai Tenggol, who were accused of abducting four policemen from the the Kangpokpi district in Imphal East.
Manipur Police with recovered arms and ammunition. Photo: X/@manipur_police
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New Delhi: As many as 13 people – including four Manipur police personnel, a Central Reserve Police Force jawan, a suspected drug dealer and five residents – were abducted in Manipur just between May 8 and May 13, Hindustan Times has reported. Security force personnel told the newspaper that the actual number of those abducted may be even higher, as often families do not file police reports.

The Manipur Police have filed FIRs and arrested at least 10 people in these cases, the report said.

Of those arrested, two are members of the powerful Meitei militia group Arambai Tenggol, who were accused of abducting four policemen from the the Kangpokpi district in Imphal East. Taibanganba Sanoujam, 25, and Moirangthem Bobo, 40, have been charged with abduction and physical assault, The Indian Express reported.

The abductions have shed light on just how divided the state is today, more than a year after the ethnic violence broke out on May 3, 2023. While the intensity of violence may have come down, the state is virtually divided into two, with Meiteis and Kuki-Zos living completely segregated lives. The Indian Express highlighted that this division extends to the police as well: “Because of the deep divide and boundaries drawn by the conflict, like the civilian population, Kuki-Zomi police personnel from the Kangpokpi district – where they are in the majority – no longer operate in the Meitei majority areas of the state, while Meitei police personnel also largely do not move in Kuki-Zomi majority areas.”

“The four abducted policemen are neither Meities nor Kukis. They were returning after collecting some household articles from the abandoned house of a colleague(a Kuki cop), who had to flee his house during the ethnic clashes last year. The Kuki officer was unable to return home because of the ethnic divide. The Arambai Tenggol heard about this and abducted the four policemen from the road. They even took photographs of the torture and circulated the photos in their WhatsApp groups in the valley,” a central security officer told Hindustan Times.

The violence has claimed around 225 lives in the last year, and at least 50,000 people are still displaced. Looting of arms and ammunition has also

According to Hindustan Times, the sudden increase in abduction and extortion cases has been attributed to “financial losses, unemployment, need for money to buy weapons or run operations, and abundance of arms and ammunition among civilian population”.

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