Imphal: In the past two weeks of Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla’s announced amnesty for the surrender of arms in the state, a total of 1,044 arms and 14,779 ammunition had been surrendered to security forces as of 7 pm of Thursday.
People handed over a total of 196 arms along with ammunition and other miscellaneous items to the security forces on the last day for voluntarily surrendering looted and illegally held weapons in strife-torn state.
The arms were surrendered in eight districts till 4 pm on Thursday.
Notably, March 6 was the last date of the amnesty announced by Governor Bhalla on February 20, following demands by people from both hill and valley areas for additional time.
He assured that there would be no punishment for those who return looted and illegally possessed weapons within the specified timeframe.
However, he had stated that “strict action” will be taken for the possession of such weapons after this period.
A security official said it would take more time to verify how many of these are from among over 6,000 weapons that have been looted from state armories during the course of the conflict.
After the deadline for voluntarily surrendering arms expired on Thursday, joint security forces conducted combing and search operations in various parts of the state and recovered 36 arms, 129 ammunition, seven explosives, 21 miscellaneous items and destroyed 15 illegal bunkers, police said in a statement.
Twelve bunkers were destroyed at K Langnom and Khengjang areas while three others were demolished at Haraothel, all in Kangpokpi district.
The governor on February 20 urged warring groups to voluntarily surrender weapons robbed from security forces and other illegally held arms within seven days.
During the first seven-day period, over 300 weapons were surrendered by the public, primarily in the valley districts.
