Arunachal police apprehends 3 militant cadres with live ammunition in Itanagar

ITANAGAR: The Itanagar Police has arrested three cadres of a Naga militant group, Eastern Naga National Government (ENNG), along with a small firearm and live ammunition from a hotel in Itanagar.

The cops also seized a .22 pistol, 10 rounds of live ammunition, one local ‘dao’ (machete) and one knife, and a hard cash of around Rs 50,000 from the possession of the arrested cadres.

They have been identified as Jahirul Rehman (30), a native of Assam’s Dibrugarh, Awang Hodong (28) of Noklo village under Lazu circle in Tirap, and Gangkha Gangsa (24) of Khasa village under Pongchau circle in Longding district. While Awang is a self-styled ‘major’ of the Naga militant group, Jahirul and Gangkha are the overground workers (OGWs) of the outfit.

Detailing about the ‘catch’, the Jimmy Chiram (IPS) Superintendent of Police said that acting on intelligence inputs that some anti-social elements were roaming in Itanagar for carrying out extortion activities, a police team headed by the in-charge sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Itanagar, Nobin Jomoh (DySP Traffic) along with Itanagar PS OC Inspector Phasang Simi and OC (SB) Inspector Habung Tapa arrested the three persons from Room No. 111 of Hotel Kosing here.

“Though there were some risks involved, our men showed courage and entered the room and apprehended the trio,” Chiram said.

Two ‘extortion related demand notes’ in the name of Eastern Naga National Government were also seized from them along with a red-coloured Tata Nexon car bearing registration number AR-18-1392, the SP said.

Accordingly, a case (No. 513/2021) under IPC Sections 384/34 read with Section 27 Arms Act was registered at Itanagar police station and the investigation is still under progress.“During the interrogation, we got to know that they are working for the underground outfit, ENNG, mostly active in the TCL (Tirap, Changlang and Longding) region. They have come to Itanagar to extort money from public leaders and officers for the Christmas and New Year eve.“

Further, they have revealed that they came to the state capital on the directions from their general secretary T Wancho, who has signed the notes,” the SP said, adding that further investigation is on.

“They also said that they had come to Itanagar earlier on many occasions with their general secretary Tamai Wancho and extorted money from the Capital Complex area for their organization,” the SP said.The trio has been remanded to four days’ police custody. “We are trying to figure out who they were trying to extort,” he informed.