NEW DELHI: A warlike arsenal of assault rifles, light machine guns, mortars, carbines and assorted small arms looted from state armouries in Manipur is still out there in the hands of rioters and feuding groups, feeding the veins of the bloody ethnic conflict raging in the state for more than two months.Of the combined loot of 4,000-odd weapons snatched by mobs from several police armouries, patrol teams and even the exhibit room of the state forensic laboratory in the first few weeks of the violence since May 3, barely 1,100 have been recovered or returned so far.The rest – including AK series, Insas, Excalibur and Ghaatak assault rifles, Amogh carbines, MP5 sub-machine guns, and 51mm mortars – remain missing weapons of war that have played their part in the mounting human toll that currently stands at 150-odd.00:41MP cops demolish 1300 illegal arms on streetOfficials said almost every variant of sophisticated weapons supplied by Indian ordnance factories to the state armed forces was part of the loot now being used to keep Manipur on the boil.

The Amogh (meaning unerring) carbine, for instance, is a select-fire personal defence weapon designed and manufactured by the Ordnance Factories Board.The Excalibur rifle derives its genes from the Insas rifle, also an indigenously developed and manufactured weapon.

The Ghaatak assault rifle was designed specifically for counter-insurgency operations.FIRs registered at different police stations regarding each of the mob raids on armouries mention the same sequence of events – several thousand rioters outnumbering security personnel at each location and walking away with weapons.Apart from the arms, the mobs also looted daylight telescopes for Insas rifles, passive night-vision binoculars, bayonets, bullet-proof helmets, tear-gas guns and shells, stun grenades and anti-riot guns, among other equipment.The largest loot took place on May 28 at the headquarters of the 8th India Reserve (Commando) Battalion at Khabeisoi in Imphal East district.

Punsiba Kabrambam, the inspector (adjutant) of the battalion, states in his FIR at Heingang police station that a mob of around 10,000 people "armed with weapons, catapults and iron rods" surrounded the battalion headquarters and attacked the personnel.The commandos used tear gas and stun grenades, followed by firing in the air to disperse the mob.

The rioters carried on undaunted, breaking down the main gate and barging into the armoury.The weapons they snatched included nine AK rifles with 256 magazines and 6,520 units of ammunition, 165 Insas rifles with 934 magazines and 44,770 units of ammunition, 57 Insas LMGs with 53 magazines, and MP-5 and a magazine, eight Excalibur rifles with 50 magazines, 69 pistols (9mm) along with 142 magazines and 1,200 units of live ammunition, and 58 carbines with 234 magazines and 24,570 units of ammunition.On May 4, a mob of about 5,000 looted the four armouries at the Manipur Police Training College at Pangei.

The FIR states that 157 Insas rifles, 54 SLRs, 34 carbines, 22 Insas LMGs and 19 pistols (9mm) were snatched.

All of these belonged to 7th IRBN.

The college lost its own weapons, which includes 91 rifles, 44 SLRs, 18 Insas rifles, among other arms.The same day, another mob at Sambei Awang Leikai waylaid a team of the 6 Manipur Rifles and snatched weapons from the five personnel.

In Churachandpur, an armed group looted the district police HQ armoury, taking away 154 303 rifles, 71 SLRs, 27 Insas rifles, 27 sub-machine carbines, 11 AK rifles and five 51mm mortars, among others.Mobs also stormed the directorate of forensics sciences at Pangei, vandalised it and looted the exhibited arms and ammunition.