29/10/2025
Looted Arms From Manipur Find Its Destination In Poll Bound Bihar
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday revealed that several of the looted arms in Manipur had found their destination in poll-bound Bihar.
An investigation conducted by the federal agency has unearthed a deep-rooted arms smuggling racket from Nagaland and Manipur to Bihar.
During a recent search operation in the house of an accused in a 2024 arms smuggling case at Vaishali district of Bihar, the NIA has recovered several weapons along with other incriminating material.
The seizure from the house of Sandeep Kumar Sinha alias Chhotu Lala included one 9 mm Pistol, 18 live cartridges of 9 mm, two pistol magazines, one double-barreled 12-bore gun, and 35 live cartridges of 12-bore ammunition. The NIA also recovered Rs 4.21 lakh in cash.
“There is every possibility that a good quantity of the looted arms from Manipur have already reached Bihar,” a security official said.
Investigation into the 2024 arms smuggling case initiated by the NIA revealed that Sandeep is a close associate of the arrested prime accused Vikash Kumar and an active member of the arms trafficking network involved in the case RC-11/2024/NIA/DLI.
“The case was originally registered by the Bihar police following the recovery of an AK-47 rifle and live ammunition. In August 2024, NIA took over the case, which is related to the smuggling of illegal arms and ammunition from the state of Nagaland for circulation across different parts of Bihar,” the official said.
During the investigation, four accused, identified as Vikash Kumar, Satyam Kumar, Devmani Rai alias Anish and Md Ahmad Ansari, were arrested and chargesheeted.
Recently, another accused, Manjoor Khan, was also arrested and is currently lodged in Beur Jail, Patna.
It is worth mentioning that a huge quantity of arms and ammunition, including 6,000 arms and 600,000 rounds of ammunition, were looted from the police barracks in Manipur, in addition to mortars, grenades, bullet-proof vests, police uniforms, etc, ever since the ethnic clash started in the State in May 2023.
“There is every possibility that the arms and ammunition have been supplied to Bihar by the arms racketeers,” the official said.
When asked about the use of such illegal arms in Bihar, another official said that these arms may be used in illegal activities in the poll-bound state.
“In crimes like booth capturing, the criminals could have used the smuggled arms,” the official said.
Significantly, the Election Commission (EC) has revised voting hours for some assembly areas and polling booths in Bihar due to their sensitive nature.
Normally, voting will take place from 7 AM to 6 PM across most areas, but ballot hours have been reduced in sensitive areas by one hour.
According to the Election Commission, around 1,300 polling booths fall in sensitive areas, with the majority being in the second phase of voting.
Source: https://www.etvbharat.com/en/state/looted-arms-from-manipur-find-its-destination-in-poll-bound-bihar-enn25102704300
