A mob of around 500 looted huge quantities of arms and ammunition, including Insas rifles, LMGs, pistols and grenades, from the 2nd India Reserve Battalion (IRB) headquarters in strife-torn Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Thursday.

Two police outposts were also looted in Meitei-majority Bishnupur district around the same time but by different armed groups, reflecting the precarious law-and-order situation in the northeastern state despite heavy deployment of security forces.

Earlier too, mobs had looted over 4,000 arms and 5 lakh ammunition from police stations, reserves, battalions and licensed arms shops in both the valley and the hills in two waves during May, of which just about 45 per cent have been recovered.

On Thursday night, a state police statement said an “unruly” mob stormed the 2nd IRB headquarters at Naranseina and two police outposts — at Keirenphabi and Thangalawei — in Bishnupur district and took away arms and ammunition, but did not provide any details.

The state police said attempts were also made to loot arms and ammunition from the 2nd and 7th battalions of Manipur Rifles and the police stations in Heingang and Singjamei in Imphal, but security forces repelled them.

Soon after the police confirmation, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), a body of recognised Kuki-Zo tribes from Churachandpur district, shared a report on the looting of arms and ammunition that had been filed by a 2nd IRB official, O. Premananda Singh, to Moirang police station, which is about2km from the 2 IRB headquarters.

Singh in his report said that around 9.45am a large number of armed miscreants came in some 40-45 light vehicles and on foot and overpowered the sentry at the main gate and the quarter guard. The attackers broke two doors of the armoury and looted a large number of arms, ammunition and other accessories from the battalion headquarters.

“During the incident, 327 rounds of ammunition and 20 tear smoke shells were fired to control the mob,” the report said, urging the police to take “necessary legal action against the culprits”.

The IRB report included a list of weapons and other equipment looted from the headquarters. These included 25 Insas rifles, 48 Insas LMGs, an AK rifle, three Ghatak rifles, 195 SLRs, 124 hand grenades, 124 detonators, 16 pistols, 25 bullet-proof jackets, 23 GF rifles and three 51mm mortars.

Ten weapons were looted from the two police outposts, about 7km from the 2 IRB headquarters, an official said.

The IRB is a special armed force raised by a state government along the lines of a paramilitary force but the Centre funds its raising cost.

An official told The Telegraph that the state government had asked the police to ensure the recovery of the arms and ammunition within two days. Senior police officers from Imphal are in Bishnupur to investigate the case.