Shillong, January 09 2009: The proscribed Manipur based Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL)'s finance wing operations from Shillong were busted by the Meghalaya police arresting five activists of the outfit on Thursday night in Shillong.

The police here said that acting on specific information about the proscribed outfit's operations from a rented house in Shillong, the special cell of the Meghalaya police conducted a swoop and arrested five KYKL cadres who have been identified as N Romen, H Bijan Dinku Singh , Habjan Maipakpi and Chanchan Binobala from Bishenpur district of Manipur and Thokchom Ibomcha Singh from Imphal West.

From their possession, incriminating documents, a computer and Rs 50,000 in cash were recovered, according to Meghalaya police.

Informing about the arrest, the Superintendent of Police East Khasi Hills AR Mawthoh said that the five are members of the KYKL's finance wing and they have been operating from the rented house located in Malki in Shillong for the past five months.

Revealing the disclosure made by the arrested members of the proscribed outfit, the police said "It is evident from the interrogation and documents recovered that those served with an extortion note come to pay or negotiate with the arrested people in Shillong" .

Although pointers showed that Shillong is a collection centre, they did not rule out the possibility of even extortion notes being sent from the Meghalaya capital to Manipur.

The five arrested militants have been booked under section 120b/121/384 of the Indian Penal Code and under sector R/W 10/13 of the unlawful activities preventive act.

While the police considered the operations as another breakthrough, the attempts by Manipur based militants to use Shillong as a place for financial transaction once again came into the fore, said the Meghalaya police.

In 2006,the United National Liberation Front (UNLF)'s finance wing operating from Shillong was busted by the Meghalaya police by arresting five of the outfit's finance wing functionaries.

Like the confession of the arrested KYKL, the UNLF then used this place to serve extortion notices in Manipur and asked them to pay in Shillong while courier services and night super buses are used as medium to send the money to the outfit's leadership, added the police.

Comment