One top leader of Hmar People’s Convention (President) HPC (P) terror outfit was arrested in Assam’s Cachar district on Saturday.

According to sources, the top leader, identified as Lalminthang Sanate, was arrested during joint operation carried out by Lakhipur Police and Assam Rifles based on confidential information.

The arrested militant Lalminthan is a self-styled chairman of the terror outfit and the police recovered four 0.32 pistols and 48 rounds of ammunition from his possession.

Following the arrest, Superintendent of Police Numal Mahanta held a press meet in which he said that the arrested militant was involved in several crimes including kidnapping and extortion.

SP Mahanta said, “Today a joint operation was carried out by Lakhipur Police and Assam Rifles led by SDPO Dinesh Kumar where the chairman of HPC (P) Lalminthang Sanate was arrested and arms and ammunition were recovered. He was involved in several crimes.”

“Earlier, he was arrested three times, twice in Cachar and once in Tezpur. He was residing at the borders of Mizoram, Manipur and Assam and extorted money in these areas. A murder was also lodged against him which is still pending,” he added.

He further said, “For the past three months he was residing in Manipur’s Churachandpur district and tried to acquire arms and ammunition. He is a well-educated cadre who graduated from St. Anthony’s College in Shillong. Since many years he has been trying to unify the groups of the terror outfit which is divided into four. He called on by Manipur and Mizoram governments to hold peace talks however, he never showed up. To summarise, he is a part of anti-talk group.”