Sikkim police have arrested five persons, including four who belong to north Bengal, for allegedly carrying sharp-edged weapons at an event of the opposition Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) at Rongli in Pakyong district on Tuesday.

Pakyong police said the five were travelling in an SUV which was part of a convoy of SDF supporters taking part in the party’s “Sikkimko Maato Bachauney Abhiyan” under the leadership of party president Pawan Chamling. SDF’s 50-day statewide campaign had started from Rongli on Monday.

The police said acting on a tip-off, the vehicle bearing number SK05P0329 was intercepted in front of Rongli police station around 2pm and a thorough search carried out in the presence of the subdivisional magistrate of Rongli and other witnesses, leading to the recovery of the sharp-edged weapons.

During their examination, the occupants were allegedly unable to satisfactorily explain why they were in possession of the sharp-edged weapons. “It is learnt that they had been hired from outside Sikkim and were not conversant in Nepali,” said a police officer without revealing the names of the seized arms.

All the five occupants of the vehicle were subsequently arrested. The driver, Smile Gurung, 24, is from Lower Salleybong in Namchi district. The other four are Bablu Das, 26, of Dakhin Shanti Nagar, Dabgram, in Jalpaiguri district and Siliguri residents Avijeet Saha, 25, of Himachal Sorani, Haiderpara, Krishna Roy, 22 of South Baghajatin Colony and Deb Jyoti, 23, of Champasari Anchal.

The police said the arrested persons had been booked under Section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959, for possession of prohibited arms and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy and common intent. “They were produced in a Gangtok court today (Wednesday) and remanded in police custody for five days,” said a police source.

The ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) accused the SDF of hiring goons from outside to create trouble in the state in order to demand the imposition of the President’s Rule in Sikkim. “Why were these youths brought to Rongli for the SDF’s yatra? What was the necessity? What was the intention? For what purpose were they brought?” asked Jacob Khaling, the spokesman-cum-organisation coordinator of the SKM.

The SDF said the arrested persons were personal security guards hired by the party from an authorised security agency. “The personal security guards have been arrested without any evidence of having committed any crime or offence under the law,” complained the party in a memorandum to Sikkim director general of police A. Sudhakar Rao.