Suspected terrorist arrested by NIA amid ethnic unrest in Manipur

The NIA has arrested a suspected terrorist for his alleged links with Myanmar-based rebel groups and conspiring to wage war against India by exploiting the current ethnic unrest in Manipur, an official said.

Moirangthem Anand Singh was arrested from Manipur and brought to New Delhi for questioning, a spokesperson of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said.

Singh was one of the five persons arrested by Manipur Police for possessing weapons looted from police armoury. The arrest had led to agitation by the majority community, who were claiming them to be village defence activists. A local court had granted bail to all the five on Friday.

However, Singh was immediately placed under arrest and whisked away to an undisclosed location before being brought to the national capital.

The official said Singh was arrested in a case related to a ”transnational conspiracy” by Myanmar-based leadership of terror groups to wage war against the government of India by exploiting the current ethnic unrest in Manipur.

The case was registered suo moto by the NIA on July 19 in New Delhi and investigations revealed that in furtherance of the conspiracy, the proscribed terror groups are recruiting over ground workers, cadres and sympathisers to augment their strength to carry out attacks on security forces and opposing ethnic groups by exploiting current unrest in the state.

They are collecting arms, ammunition and explosives by unlawful means, including plunder and pillage of government facilities and resources, the spokesperson said.

After Singh was brought to Delhi on Saturday, he was produced before a jurisdictional court which remanded him in police custody for a period of five days, the spokesperson said.