Five cadres of the banned militant outfit People's Liberation Army (PLA) involved in two Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts were arrested in Manipur's Thoubal district on Tuesday, police said.
Superintendent of Police, Thoubal, H. Jogeshchandra told a press conference that following reliable inputs from Assam Rifles, a cordon and search operation was conducted at Tentha Tuwaband in Thoubal district, during which three militants of the proscribed outfit including a woman were arrested by a joint team of Thoubal district police and Assam Rifles.
"As a follow up operation, two more militants were also arrested by a joint team consisting of a 16 AR column, based on inputs by BSF Koirengei," Mr. Jogeshchandra said.
Preliminary investigation revealed that they were involved in targeting non-locals in the valley and were involved in the IED blasts at Telipati in Imphal East district and Khongjom Sapam in Thoubal on May 13 and May 30 respectively, the police officer said.
Four hand grenades were also recovered from the possession of the cadres who have been handed over to Khongjom Police Station, the officer added.
