30% of weapons recovered in Manipur more advanced than what state armouries had, officials say

However, just 1,200 of these are weapons looted from armouries. According to the official, around 800 are sophisticated weapons procured from elsewhere, while the remaining 600 are country-made crude weapons.

A top security official said the involvement of militant groups on both sides has fuelled the supply. “The Meiteis have access to good quality weapons — automatic and long-range ones — through valley-based insurgent groups, and there are also the weapons from the armouries. The Kukis also have access to a similar calibre of automatic weapons because of the SoO groups,” the official said, referring to the militant groups that had signed Suspension of Operation agreements with the central and state governments.

Another challenge staring at the security forces is of improvised weapons becoming more efficient – and deadly – as the conflict has progressed. Most recently, improvised rockets that have a range of 5 km struck fear in Moirang town – previously considered a safe zone. One hit the home of Manipur’s first chief minister, the late M Koireng Singh, on September 6 and killed a priest there.

According to officials, the nearest point from which the ‘rockets’ could have been fired is Churachandpur district.

“The Kukis have improvised ‘pumpis’, which are basically mortars. It is a barrel into which they can put anything. You put a propellant at the bottom and light a match. These can be made with easily accessible materials, and making a bomb is no rocket science. But to make a round reach 5 km away is not easy,” a security official said.

The Indian Express also met armed fighters from Lhangnom village, which falls in the “fringe area” in Kuki-Zomi-majority Kangpokpi district, at the border with Meitei-majority Imphal West. According to them, “experts” from their side had helped develop the pumpis. They claimed the improved weapons have a range of 12-15 km. “It depends on the amount of gunpowder and the length of the barrel,” said one fighter.

Thangtinlen Kipgen, an office bearer of the Committee on Tribal Unity, an organisation in Kangpokpi district formed after the conflict began, claimed, “At the beginning, we were using the pumpis that we had learned about from our forefathers. They make a loud sound and travel around 30 metres. By November-December last year, the ‘second category’ was developed. The work on the type of rockets that landed in Moirang began in December last year. We have a capacity to fire 12-15 km, but it is not yet being used.”

Another kind of weapon that has led to concerns is crude bomb-carrying drones, which were used to strike Koutruk village in Imphal West. An armed fighter in Koutruk said that even earlier, drones flying over the village was a regular sight, but the devices were used for surveillance.

A senior security official said, “It is a big nuisance. We haven’t been able to use jammers in possession of the Army here because the valley is very narrow and jammers are potent devices that can cause disturbances in the Air Traffic Control at Imphal Airport. The use of low power handheld mobile jammers had been a work in progress for a while, which received an impetus after the recent incidents and is now being rolled out.” According to a police official, the Army is in possession of two such jammers, the CRPF has one, and two more are being procured.