A massive stockpile of arms and ammunition were seized by the Meghalaya police in the East Garo Hills district.
The arms were discovered on Wednesday near the Simsang River and were reportedly left behind by GNLA chief Sohan D Shira. The arms that were recovered included a one 303 light machine gun, 2 AK rifles, 1 H and K rifle, 4 SBML barrels, 5 UBGL shells, 2 rockets (RPG), one 9mm magazine, one 9mm carbine, 5 AK rifle magazines, one remote control, one signal booster, 30 AK rifle bullets, 8 pistols, 2 kg of gelatin (Gelignite) sticks, 66 electronic detonators, and 7 cleaning rods.
The police along with the help of villagers carried out search operations in the forests bordering Dorengkigre and Bawegre located across the river, 15 km from the district headquarters Williamnagar.
"Some of the weapons were simply stashed in the bushes while others were buried in the ground. Villagers also joined in the search operation and some of the places where the weapons were concealed were revealed by them," said East Garo Hills SP, R T G Momin.
The police suspect that one of the seized weapons, an AK could have been taken away by the militants.
"We are unable to say from which ambush the weapon was taken away. But going by the make and how it operates, it resembles the ones used by police and those used by the GNLA have a different mechanism," the police chief said.
The police had recovered various GNLA weapons from different locations during various search operations across the Simsang soon after the killing of Shira.
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