Huge cache of arms recovered from Meghalaya's Garo Hills

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A huge cache of arms and ammunition has been recovered from Meghalaya's East Garo Hills district, the police said today. Acting on a tip-off, a team of officers raided Dorengkigre village in the district last night and dug out 21 rusted pistols and magazines, two walkie-talkie sets, some arrowheads and Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) literature, Superintendent of Police Ringran T G Momin said.

Momin suspects that GNLA militants had hidden the cache in the village a long time ago. "Going by the rust formation on the pistols, it seems that the arms were buried in the village many years ago," the SP said.

The founding member of the militant outfit, Sohan D Shira, was gunned down at his hideout in February. He was on the run since 2010. Shira, who carried a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head, was accused of killing of NCP candidate Jonathone N Sangma, ahead of the February 27 Assembly elections.

Two weeks after Shira's death, eight of his close aides surrendered before the new home minister James Sangma at police headquarters in Shillong.

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