A mob stormed the Ukhrul police station in Manipur and looted arms and ammunition after Wednesday’s gunfight between residents of two Ukhrul villages over a decades-old boundary dispute. The toll went up to four on Thursday.

Reports of the loot started doing the rounds only on Thursday. The Naga-majority district is under curfew and internet ban since Wednesday.

Though there is no official statement on the looting of arms till late evening, an official said a mob had stormed the PS after the violent confrontation between the villages but could not provide details of the loot.

However, sources and reports emanating from Imphal and Ukhrul said altogether 21 arms were looted from the PS located in Police Bazar, including eight 9 mm pistols, six INSAS rifles, three AK-47 rifles, an SLR, a sten gun, two 9mm carbines, along with over 900 rounds of ammunitions, that included 340 rounds of INSAS and 180 rounds of AK-47.

The looting of arms will only add to security concerns in the district headquarters where the clash between the two sides saw the extensive use of guns from both sides.

The proliferation of guns is already a problem in a state grappling with the ongoing ethnic conflict between the Kuki-Zos and the Meiteis since May 3, 2023. The Nagas and the Meitei Pangals have remained neutral in the ongoing conflict.

There have been at least four instances of mobs storming and looting arms and weapons from police armouries last year from both the hill and valley districts where the warring sides are in the majority.

Manipur security adviser Kuldiep Singh had said in September that security forces could recover only about 1,200 of the around 6,000 arms looted from armouries. About 1,400 weapons not looted from armouries have also been recovered. Army chief Upendra Dwivedi had expressed concern in a recent interview with a news website over the “weaponisation of the society” in Manipur in wake of the conflict.