India has secured extradition of Thai gunrunner Wuthikorn Naruenartwanich and brought him to New Delhi on Wednesday from Bangkok for allegedly supplying arms to insurgent groups in the North-East.
His questioning is expected to unravel the nexus of the Chinese arms manufacturers with the insurgents in the Northeast. A designated court here granted custody of the extradited Thai national to NIA till December 21.
After months of legal battle in Thailand, decks were cleared for his extradition when the Appellate Court in Bangkok rejected his petition on November 4 in which he had challenged a decision of a lower court order of March 31, 2014 granting his extradition.
NIA said in a statement that the custody of Wuthikorn Naruenartwanich (59) alias Willy Naru was handed over to the Chief Investigating Officer of the case on Tuesday by Thailand. He was brought to New Delhi and was arrested on Wednesday.
The NIA case relates to a criminal conspiracy for illegal procurement of a huge quantity of sophisticated arms and ammunitions from a foreign country, in which a senior leader of NSCN (IM), Anthony Shimray was arrested by the NIA.
Investigation by NIA had revealed that the accused Anthony Shimray had negotiated several times with Willy to fix a deal to the tune of USD 1.2 million to procure huge quantity of arms and ammunition for supply to the NSCN (IM) and other insurgent groups operating in the North Eastern region for waging war against the Government of India. For this deal, $800,000 was paid by accused Anthony Shimray to co-accused Willy.
NIA had filed a charge sheet in this case on March 26, 2011 against four accused persons including Anthony Shimray and Willy for offences under the Indian Penal Code relating to criminal conspiracy and other Section besides those relating to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Presently, Anthony Shimray is undergoing judicial custody and facing trial in a NIA Special Court here.
Most of the arms like AK series rifles, Universal Machine Guns and M20 pistol used by the insurgent groups are Chinese-made and believed to have been manufactured by China North Industries Group Corporation (NORINCO).
NORINCO is a large arms group and NIA suspects that the company’s arms and ammunition come to the Northeast through the Thai gun running rackets, sources said.
India had secured an Interpol Red Corner Notice against Willy after NSCN-IM leader Anthony Shimray, arrested in Nepal in 2007, alleged that he had paid the Thai man for an arms consignment which included AK-series rifles.