IMPHAL: Manipur Police are verifying an intelligence report that said at least 20 Manipuri Muslims recently left the state to train under al-Qaida. However, it is not clear which country they have gone to. The youths belong to Imphal East, Thoubal and Chandel districts.

Manipur director general of police M K Das said the intelligence report is yet to be officially verified and that the security forces have so far not found any concrete evidence of the presence of any al-Qaida operatives in the state. However, the police have been on a sharp vigil since they received the report, he added. "We will take all-out action once the intelligence inputs are corroborated," the state police chief said.

The DGP said the recent arrest of two Saudi Arabian nationals from Tengnoupal in Chandel district by the Assam Rifles and the subsequent probe conducted by the NIAto ascertain whether they have links with al-Qaida is a development that could help verify the intelligence inputs. Assam Rifles soldiers, who are guarding the porous India-Myanmar border along the Manipur sector, nabbed two Saudi Arabia nationals from Chandel when they were travelling in a taxi towards the border town of Moreh in June this year, a source said.

The two did not possess any valid documents like visas and passports at the time of their arrest, the source said, adding that they are lodged in jail in Imphal. Though the duo claimed that they were visiting Manipur to do research work on Islamic culture, they could not speak Arabic properly, added the source.

