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Manipur team attacked after raid to catch drug kingpin in Chandel district: Cops
The officer said Lunkhopao Haokip, a local drug kingpin, was also a leader of United Kuki Liberation Front (UKLF)
IMPHAL: A Manipur police team was attacked by a group of people in Chandel district’s Longja village after an unsuccessful raid targeting a suspected drug kingpin on Wednesday evening, police said.
The incident took place at about 9:30pm on Wednesday. Windshields of two vehicles including one belonging to the district’s additional superintendent of police were damaged in the attack, a senior police officer said.
The officer said the police team had been tracking Lunkhopao Haokip, a local drug kingpin also suspected to be involved in gun smuggling, who had recently been spotted in Kolkata, and was learnt to be in the district after spending 3-4 days in Churachandpur.
The officer said Haokip was also a leader of United Kuki Liberation Front (UKLF).
Wednesday’s raid was carried out on the information that he was meeting a buyer but the police believe that he was tipped about the action. Haokip escaped along with contraband drugs and weapons.
After the raid, a crowd gathered and blocked the way of the police team, attacking their vehicles. The situation was eventually diffused, and the forces managed to withdraw without injury, a police officer said.
Later, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed regarding the vandalism.
Meanwhile, the UKLF, a Kuki underground outfit and a signatory of the tripartite Suspension of Operation (SoO) pact, criticised the authorities for the raid against a UKLF functionary.
In a statement, the group said “conducting a raid against the officers and cadres of the organisation who signed the Tripartite Suspension of Operation agreement is indeed a total violation of SoO ground rules.”
It claimed that UKLF strictly abided by the ground rules.
A new tripartite SoO pact was signed on September 4 between the state and central government along with 24 Kuki-Zo insurgent groups that are working under the umbrella of Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and United People’s Front (UPF).
To be sure, the first tripartite pact was signed in August 2008 and was renewed annually until February 28, 2024, when the Manipur government withdrew from the pact. The SoO was kept in abeyance by the Centre following allegations that SoO group cadres were involved in Manipur’s ethnic clashes or provided training to village defence volunteers, a charge denied by the groups.
