3 UPDF-P ‘cadres’ held in Mizoram; AK-47s, 1,799 rounds ammo seized

Aizawl: Three suspected cadres of the United People’s Democratic Front-Prasit (UPDF-P) were arrested in Aizawl district with weapons while they were transiting through Mizoram to enter Bangladesh, police said on Monday.Border Security Force (BSF) and Mizoram Police CID (Special Branch) arrested them while they were attempting to cross via the Dampa Tiger Reserve corridor in Mamit district on Sunday.Those arrested were identified as Apon Chakma, Nihar Ranjan Chakma, and Moni Karbari Chakma. They were being held at Sairang PS.Based on disclosures during preliminary interrogation and subsequent searches, security personnel recovered a concealed cache of 1,799 rounds of 7.62 mm live ammunition hidden in a jungle area about 8 km from the detention point. Further interrogation and follow-up operations led to another recovery from the Dampa Tiger Reserve sector, about 6 km from Saithah village under West Phaileng Police Station in Mamit district. The cache included two AK-47 assault rifles, two magazines, and 12 rounds of ammunition.Police said the arrested Bangladesh-based insurgents told interrogators that Dr Preeti Chakma, reportedly based in Aizawl, had assigned them to recover the concealed consignments and facilitate their onward movement into Bangladesh.Police said the modus operandi — concealed jungle caches, compartmentalised recovery points, and planned cross-border movement through the Dampa Tiger Reserve corridor — indicated a “pre-established clandestine logistics and transit network” operating along the Mizoram-Bangladesh border. The recoveries also pointed to attempts by insurgent-linked elements, including the UPDF-P and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti, to use remote forest routes in the Dampa Tiger Reserve sector for covert arms transportation, cross-border militant movement, and possible coordination with Bangladesh-based operatives, police said.