After Amit Shah's warning, 140 looted rifles, machine guns surrendered in Manipur

By India Today News Desk: After a warning by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to people to return weapons being kept illegally in violence-hit Manipur, over 140 weapons were surrendered to the police on Friday. Shah had warned that a combing operation for the weapons would start soon and anyone found with illegal weapons would face strict action.

A large number of weapons were looted from armories after ethnic violence broke out in Manipur in May.

Earlier on Thursday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah appealed to people concerned to surrender their weapons to the security forces and administration.

Shah said a combing operation by security forces would be carried out in the state in the near future and warned that anyone found possessing weapons illegally would face strict action.

After his warning, over 140 weapons were surrendered, including the Self Loading Rifle (SLR), R 29, Carbine, AK-47, INSAS Rifle, and INSAS Light Machine Gun (LMG) among others.

Earlier, Amit Shah went on a four-day visit to take stock of the situation in violence-torn Manipur.

During his visit, he announced a plethora of measures, including a committee headed by a retired high court judge to monitor a special CBI team’s investigation into incidents of violence in the northeastern state.

At least 98 people have been killed and over 300 others are injured in the ethnic violence that broke out in the northeastern state of Manipur after a Tribal Solidarity March was organised by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) to protest against the demand of Meiteis for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status on May 3.

The almost month-long violence has rendered thousands of people homeless. According to sources, 37,450 people are currently staying in 272 relief camps across the state.