Dimapur, June 26: An enormous 70 gigabytes of classified defence-related information stored in over 40 CDs and two laptops has been seized from a militant in this Nagaland town, rattling even hardened counter-insurgency experts.

A US intelligence training manual, records of army movement in the Northeast and manuals from the Military Headquarters of War in Indore were among the classified material found on I. Mani Singh, a militant of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of Manipur.

The PLA cadre was arrested from a hotel, along with three government contractors, from Manipur last week.

Much of the information stored in the laptops and CDs is in the form of encrypted files. One of the laptops belongs to the “chief intelligence officer” of the outfit, “lieutenant” Shyam alias Sanjoy. Cryptologists have been requisitioned from New Delhi to crack the password to Shyam’s laptop, which ostensibly contains information in the Meitei language.

Mani, a “deputy intelligence officer” in the PLA, has been based in Dimapur for over a year.

“He had been receiving intelligence from Manipur and passing it on to the assistant army chief of the outfit, Jeme Sharma, who is based in Bangladesh.

“Shyam, the chief of intelligence, is in Myanmar,” an army source said.

The defence establishment is understood to be trying to assess how much “damage” has already been done by the PLA intelligence network.

Subdivisional police officer Vesupra Kezo said he and his colleagues did not expect such a haul when they raided the hotel in which Mani was staying.

“The hardware and technology (that the militants have) is shocking,” he said.

Apart from CDs and laptops, the police found a passport in Shyam’s name, photocopies of manuals on handling arms and ammunition and demolition of bridges, copies of this year’s Manipur budget and a white paper on Naga integration, and Chinese, Myanmarese and Indian currency.

Sources said the PLA militant also had detailed information on the movements of units of the Assam Rifles and the 57 Mountain Division of the army in Manipur and a list of police postings. The sheaf of documents seized contained 75 maps of Manipur and Myanmar.

A team from Manipur police has taken Mani to Imphal.