Maoists operating in various Central Indian States have been using the rebels of the North-Eastern States of Manipur and Nagaland particularly in procuring arms and ammunition to be used by their cadre.

Huge arms and ammunition have been procured by the CPI (Maoists) using the cadre of Manipur-based Peoples liberation Army (PlA) in the past and those were sent to the jungles of Jharkhand, where the red rebels have their camps.

These facts came to the light recently after Pallab Borbora, a prominent Maoist cadre of Assam, who had been arrested by the State police two years back, confessed before the Special Judges Court of the National Investigating Agency (NIA), Assam.

In his deposition, Borbora said that he was introduced by senior Maoist leaders like Alokji alias Amitabh Bagchi and Raj alias Indranil Chanda to certain PlA cadre and that he helped transship arms and ammunition from Dimapur to Jharkhand using road and rail routes.

“In November 2008, Alokji gave Rs 3 lakh to him to purchase a Tata Sumo vehicle and a hidden compartment was made under the driver’s seat to carry arms and ammunition. later a truck was also purchased for carrying arms and ammunition,” said Borbora in his deposition.

Borbora, who also received training by the Maoists in Saranda Jungle, located at the junction of Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha, further said that  he had placed demands to PlA cadre Raghu alias S Dhiren Singh in July 2010 for supplying M-16 pistols, AK-47 rifle and carbines for distribution among the Assam unit of CPI (Maoists) cadre. He did it at the instruction of senior Maoist cadre Indranil Chanda.

He also said that he had received a huge consignment of arms, ammunition and communication equipments from PlA cadre Wangba alias N Dilip Singh and a few days later he handed over the consignment packed in three cartoons to another Maoist leader at Kamakhya Railway Station in Guwahati, who took it to Jharkhand.

It may be mentioned here that Maoist rebels have already spread their tentacles in the North-East region of India, which has a history of secessionist movements since last several decades. Security officials said that the red rebels have already set up a network in some districts of Assam—Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Sonitpur and Golaghat. Several Maoists cadres were killed in encounter with security forces in Sadiya area of eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district in 2012 when surveillance against Maoists activities was mounted in Assam following intelligence inputs.

The NIA registered a case in July 2001 and started investigation into Maoist activities in the North-East in view of increasing activities of Maoists in the region and could file the first chargesheet in the special court in Guwahati only on 2012.