Imphal, Assam Rifles troopers recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition from Kahulong village in Tamenglong district in northern Manipur, officials said on Sunday.
Defence spokesman, Lt Col Mohit Vaishnava said that acting on a specific input over the movement of armed cadres of a militant outfit, a search operation was conducted on Saturday leading to the recovery of 13 pistols of various types, several magazines, and 11 live rounds.
The recovered arms and ammunition were handed over to Tamenglong police station for further legal action.
"Locals thanked the security forces for the recovery of the huge cache of arms and ammunition foiling any major violent incident. Successful operation was called off after sanitisation of the area," the spokesman said.
Against the backdrop of possible militants' violence, elections to the 60-seat Manipur assembly were held on February 28 and March 5 with some violent incidents reported.
At least two persons were killed in a police firing and an attack by the rival party workers and several others were injured in separate incidents in Senapati and Thoubal districts in Manipur in the second and final phase of elections in 22 of the 60 Assembly constituencies on Saturday.