Security forces in Longding district apprehended a NSCN (IM) militant commander involved in extorting money, police said on Tuesday.

A joint team of Longding Battalion of Assam Rifles and district police nabbed the rebels on Monday, police sources from the district informed.

Identified as Anok Wangsu, the insurgent leader was a self-styled commander of the outfit’s Wancho region, and was extorting money and recruiting militants in the district on behalf of the outfit.

Several incriminating documents, extortion money and fake ID cards were recovered from his possession.

The sources added that the district police had in September last year, arrested one of his accomplice, a self-styled sergeant of the outfit, who was involved in extorting money from villagers of Kanubari area in the district.

The arrest of Wangsu assumes significance as he was one of the prime suspects in two NIA cases of 2015 and 2019, when three army soldiers and the then Khonsa MLA Tirong Aboh were killed in two separate ambushes, police said.

The insurgent was handed over to Longding police station for further investigation, the police added. 

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