Four PREPAK militants held from Manipur, Kolkata

The outfit8217;s finance secretary Y Sanjay Singh and political secretary L Ibobi Singh were arrested by a joint team of Bishnupur Police commandos and Army personnel outside Imphal airport on Saturday. Rakesh, a self-styled captain and fighting group commander, and RK Dinesh, chief of organisation committee, were picked up from a hotel in Kolkata the same evening.

The duo arrested in Imphal had just disembarked from an Kolkata-Imphal Indian Airlines flight when they were held. A large amount of foreign currency including US, Chinese, Myanmarese, Thai and Indian money, six credit cards and two PCs had been seized from the Kolkata flats, Eastern Command CPRO Wing Cdr R K Das told the media in Kolkata. The arrested cadres are members of one of the three factions of the PREPAK headed by former finance secretary Shanti. Sources said the militants had decamped with around Rs 80 lakh of party funds following what is said to be a three-way split in the outfit a few years ago.

8220;According to our information, seven senior cadres, including Shanti, were staying in several flats in Kolkata with their families. We had them under surveillance since September following a tip-off,8221; sources added. 8220;The Army and CID jointly raided a flat in the Bagha Jatin area where two of the arrested militants had been residing for the past six months disguising themselves as Jadavpur University students. Shanti used to frequent this house, but according to our information, he is in Bangkok at the moment,8221; Das said.

According to the Army and West Bengal police sources, the PREPAK faction made a base in Kolkata for a safe hideout. They also used this base for fundraising and recruiting students in colleges. Das said that of late the South Kolkata area surrounding Jadavpur University has been transformed into a safe haven for militants from the North-East.