Dimapur, July 13 (MExN): Contrary to reports in the national media, the two ‘foreign nationals’ arrested 10 days ago in Mon district in Nagaland are reportedly not Chinese nationals but Pangmei, a Naga tribe from across the border in Myanmar.
Sources said that the two alleged foreigners who were handed over to Nagaland police after they were arrested by the Assam Rifles in Mon district near the Nagaland-Arunachal border on July 4 last, have been forwarded to judicial custody. Sources said that a joint interrogation by police, special branch, IB and SIB on the arrested duo yielded little results as the two “foreign nationals” were not conversant with both English and Hindi.
The duo claimed to interrogators that they are Pangmei Nagas from Myanmar. Police recovered mobile phones and Rs. 37,000 from the arrested duo. However, they were not in possession of any arms. The duo also reportedly told interrogators that they had been to a camp of the NSCN (K). Dismissing speculations that the two arrested might be Chinese spies, police sources said that their features resemble more of the Nagas than Chinese. “They looked more like Nagas than Chinese and they seemed to be uneducated,” intelligence sources said. Intelligence sources however did not rule out the possibility of the two persons having links with the Naga underground factions.
