New Delhi:

A terror suspect in Manipur’s hill district Churachandpur has been arrested by the country’s top anti-terror agency in a transnational conspiracy case involving terrorist leaders in Bangladesh and Myanmar. The suspect is being brought to Delhi for questioning and further investigation.

The accused and his network in Myanmar and Bangladesh sought to exploit the Manipur crisis, the anti-terror agency said in a statement.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a post on X (formerly Twitter) said the terror accused, Seiminlun Gangte, is instrumental in a “conspiracy with Myanmar- and Bangladesh-based leadership of terror outfits to wage war against India by exploiting the ethnic unrest in Manipur.”

Gangte is also the main accused in the car bomb blast on June 22 in Manipur’s Kwakta that killed a person, police sources told NDTV. A Scorpio SUV parked near a small bridge had exploded on June 22 in what was seen as a serious escalation of violence. The attack had the typical characteristics of trained terrorist hands, sources had said then.

The NIA has not said which terror group Gangte belongs to.

Some 25 Kuki insurgent groups, mostly based in Churachandpur, have signed a trilateral suspension of operations (SoO) agreement with the centre, the state and the military, under which the insurgents are to stay at designated camps and their weapons kept in monitored storages. There are allegations, however, that some insurgents of groups that have signed the SoO agreement have been taking part in the Manipur violence.

The NIA had filed this case on its own in July.

ACCUSED ARRESTED BY NIA FROM CHURACHANDPUR DISTRICT (MANIPUR) IN TRANSNATIONAL CONSPIRACY CASE. pic.twitter.com/L0FSfDja85

— NIA India (@NIA_India) September 30, 2023

“Investigation… revealed that Myanmar and Bangladesh-based militant groups have entered into a conspiracy with a section of militant leaders in India to indulge in incidents of violence with an intention to drive a wedge between different ethnic groups and to wage war against the government of India,” the NIA said in the statement today.

“And for this purpose, the leadership have been providing funds to buy arms, ammunition and other types of terrorist hardware which are being sourced both, from across the border, as well as from other terrorist outfits active in northeastern states to stoke the current ethnic strife in Manipur,” the NIA said.

Gangte is the second terror suspect to be arrested in Manipur in the past nine days. On September 22, the NIA arrested Moirangthem Anand Singh in connection with a terror case.