Former Dawood man forms militant outfit in Arunachal Pradesh

A former member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang is now a headache for the Arunachal Pradesh police. He has floated a rebel outfit that seeks creation of an autonomous district council by carving out nine circles in Lohit and Changlang districts of the frontier state.

According to intelligence officials, 42-year-old Sumona Munlang was earlier a sharpshooter in Dawood gang. He returned to Arunachal Pradesh early this year to form the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF). The outfit, the officials believe, has around 50 to 70 armed members in its fold and they use Chinese-made weapons.

“We have reports that he is now leading a militant outfit (in Arunachal). We have been searching for him for long,” RK Sharma, deputy commissioner of Lohit district, told DNA. He said Munlang is wanted in several cases of bank fraud and murder.
“All that we know is he renamed the Tai-Khamti Liberation Front as United People’s Democratic Front. We don’t know if he had ever any links with the Dawood gang,” Sharma added. Khamtis are one of the major tribes of the state.

Sources said Munlang was arrested in 2002 but he managed to give police the slip to eventually join the Dawood gang.

The Lohit district, a sensitive area bordering China and Myanmar, has been used as an escape route by militants of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) over the years. In fact, Lohit was once a bastion of the Ulfa. Naga rebels are believed to be still active in Lohit while Maoists are said to have also made inroads.