Five Chinese-Made Pistols Recovered From Naga Bus Passenger

Five .22 calibre Chinese made pistols were recovered from the personal belongings of a Naga bus passenger who was travelling from Tuengsang district of Nagaland to Dimapur city in a ‘Nagaland State Transport’ bus today.

Assam Police while conducting routine frisking of the bus passenger’s luggage at the CCI (Cement Corporation of India) police check point fished out the weapons from baggage of the passenger today at around 9.00 AM. Bokajan police has placed the person under arrest under various charges of arms act of IPC; till filing of the report personal details of the arrested person could not be learned.

The well-known city Dimapur, the finest commercial hub of Nagaland state, has turned into an open market of sophisticated foreign arms for the ultra organizations of Northeast India.

In most of the recent cases which has been detected by Nagaland police and those cases which has come to the notice of police and paramilitary forces operating in Bokajan subdivision of Assam (contagious to Nagaland), due to proliferation of sophisticated arms and ammunition in this city, members of various outfits either comes here to procure weaponry for its arsenal or has appointed their agents to maintain steady supply of latest weapons. The police are vigilant from of Dimapur weapon to most of the ultra infested states of NE and North India.

The arms range from small hand gun of .22 calibre pistol to RPG shells, automatic assault rifles like AK 56 and AK47, grenade launcher, Bazooka, machinegun, IED (improvised explosive device), communication equipments etc.

Border link with China and other south East Asian countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh and presence of numerous rebellious outfits is an added advantage for the arms runners to flourish trade of armaments in Nagaland, Manipur and Assam from this city which is well connected by air, rail and road. Arms also reach Dimapur from various part of Nagaland through unrestricted routes but places like Tuensang district of Nagaland which can be reached only through roads which pass through Assam has constraints. This is due to strict vigil maintained by Assam police and paramilitary forces in checkpoints over NH-39 in Bokajan and Lahorijan closed to interstate border. Most of the petty arms smuggling cases come to surface in this checkpoints.

Sushanta Roy
Sushanta Roy is a journalist in Assam, India, who photographs and writes about the people, animals and flora of Assam, and the things that affect them.