Dimapur, January 9 (MExN): With reports of illegal arms market flourishing in Dimapur being highlighted in the national media, the Nagaland police department admitted that there is indeed an illegal arms racket and said that they are trying their best to curb this illegal business.
A senior police officer in Dimapur, when contacted, disclosed that there is an illegal arms market in Dimapur with the involvement of both underground outfits and even civilians. The police officer said that insurgent outfits from the entire northeastern buy the arms. However, he said that it would be wrong to single out Nagaland as the only state where illegal arms transaction is going on since such arms rackets is going on in all the northeastern states.
The senior police officer disclosed that most of the arms are smuggled in from Myanmar and the bordering countries, since none of the insurgent groups in the north east have the capability to manufacture arms. One Automatic Kalashnikov assault rifle cost around three to four lakhs in the b;ack market while one round of AK ammunition cost around Rs 100, the police officer informed.
He further disclosed that ‘all sort of criminals are involved in this illegal market’, and added that the state police force are trying its best to bust this arm racket. Another police officer said that the police have the knowledge of this racket in the state, but they cannot do anything for lack of hard evidence.
Some civilians were arrested on various occasion in the past by the police for possession of arms in the state. However, the police said that these are simply ‘porters’ carrying out the commissioned assignment of taking out the weapons and selling it to viable customers on the dictate of their bosses, leaving the real culprit go scot-free even if the ‘porters’ are arrested.
The Indian Army, on its part, refuted the NDTV news about the involvement of the army personnel in this racket. The PRO (Defence) of Nagaland, Col Nirupama Bhargava, when contacted, expressed unhappiness over how the Indian army was also dragged in the illegal arm business in Dimapur. “No, the army has no involvement…we are not giving much importance to it,” said the Army PRO.
