Myanmar National with Arms Held in Mizoram

August 10, 2015: Security forces have arrested a Myanmarese man in Mizoram along the
international border and seized arms and ammunition from his possession,
police said on Sunday.

Chingsianpianga, 36, was arrested during a
joint operation by Mizoram Police and Assam Rifles troopers at Hnahlan
village in Champhai district on Friday night when he was smuggling the
arms into India from Myanmar across the IB. Two M-3 rifles, three loaded
magazines and a huge cache of bullets have been seized from him, a
police officer said.

The officer said Chingsianpianga was a
resident of Darkhai village in Myanmar. The arrested man told police
that the arms were smuggled from Myanmar. “The seized arms and
ammunition were suspected to have been meant for Chakma rebels operating
in Bangladesh,” the officer said.

The Chakma rebels have been
demanding sovereign status in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Mizoram shares a 510-km mountainous border with Myanmar. Assam Rifles
troopers were posted along the 1,643-km India-Myanmar border along
Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Manipur (398 km), Nagaland (215 km) and
Mizoram (510 km).

Mizoram also shares an unfenced 318-km international border with Bangladesh.