Assam News – Manipur militant leader nabbed with drugs, remanded to 5-day police custody

Guwahati: The self-styled commander-in-chief of a Manipur-based militant organization, who was arrested with drugs on Sunday (October 15), has been remanded in five-day police custody.

Lemtinsei Singsong (50), of the United Tribal Liberation Army-KNO Seiphu faction, was apprehended with 124.87 grams of brown sugar by a team of the 39th Assam Rifles at Phaitol village in Tamenglong district.

The militant organization is one of the 25 tribal insurgent groups, which had signed the Suspension of Operation (SoO), a tripartite ceasefire agreement with the state and Central governments. 

The arrest was made amid the popular call for immediate abrogation of Soo with the tribal militant organisations, alleging them of indulging in narco-terrorism in the state.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), in August this year, had acknowledged the involvement of such militant groups in the illegal trade in narcotics and terrorist activities in the ongoing violence gripping the state.

The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) has also accused the SoO groups of their involvement in narco-terrorism.

Singsong, who is booked under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, was produced before a judicial magistrate in Tamenglong district via video conferencing on Sunday. 

The court remanded Singsong in five-day police custody, enabling the cops to interrogate him for more information about the seizure of drugs from his possession.

Singsong was earlier handed over to the Jiribam police station by the troops of the Assam Rifles before being transferred to the Tousem police station in the Tamenglong district.

In view of the current security situation, he is currently being housed at a nearby Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp at Uchathol village on a temporary basis. 

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