Eight suspected Manipuri militants held from city

Kolkata, Nov 8 (UNI) In a joint operation, a Special Task Force of Kolkata police and the military intelligence have arrested eight suspected Manipuri militants, running an extortion racket from the city.

Additional Commissioner of Police Rajiv Kumar, who heads the STF, today said the alleged militants were arrested from an auction house on Lenin Sarani in Central Kolkata yesterday. Auction of old vehicles of Border Road Task Force (BRTF) was going on when they were arrested.

An amount of Rs 15 lakh was recovered from them.

''We have informed the Manipur police and are awaiting information from them. Only then we can claim that the arrested people are militants,'' he said.

However, Police sources alleged that underground People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak(PREPAK)'s Lieutenant K Kanta Singh and People's Liberation Army(PLA) leader M Chittaranjan Singh were believed to be among those arrested.

The others are Chirom Iboyaima Singh, L C Deben Singh, Soram Tomba Singh and Koijam Ibomcha Singh.

''A group of nearly 15 Manipuri militants had come to Kolkata in response to an open tender from the BRTF for auctioning old vehicles. Their modus operandi was taking part in bidding as well as extorting a percentage of the final bid amount from the bidders,'' they added.

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