Imphal, Jan. 17: From rifles and machine-guns to anti-tank rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns: the army has made a huge haul of weapons after cracking a hideout on Manipur?s frontier with Myanmar. This is the first visible sign of success for Delhi?s military co-operation with Yangon.

The discovery was made at a major hideout of the banned People?s Liberation Army (PLA). Maj Gen. G.G. Dwivedi, general officer commanding (GOC), 57th Mountain Division, held a news conference at Leimakhong, the division?s headquarters. He said there was no encounter as the militants had already fled the area. The weapons had been concealed under twigs and leaves in a small nullah.

Army sources said the constant pressure exerted by the Indian and Myanmarese armies from both sides forced the insurgents to leave behind their arms and ammunition. The army added that this is the biggest arms haul in the state so far.

The camp is very close to the Myanmar border, where the army launched counter-insurgency operations last October after a unified command structure headed by chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh was formed. The operation was carried out at Thinghat subdivision of Manipur?s southern district of Churachandpur on Saturday.

The weapons seized included 68 AK series, M-16, M-21 and sniper rifles, machine-guns, grenade launchers, anti-tank rocket launchers, mortars and anti-aircraft guns. Gen. Dwivedi said troops of the 9 Rajput Rifles and 13 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles carried out the operation.

?Though huge, this haul is just a drop in the ocean as several such caches wait to be unearthed. The weapons found in this recovery alone are sufficient to equip a fighting sub-unit of an army. The magnitude of the threat that prevails can, therefore, be imagined when thousands of such weapons are in the hands of militants,? the GOC said.

After the army was re-inducted into the zone, well-entrenched camps of the PLA, the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup were eliminated, he said.

The senior army officer dismissed claims by the UNLF that its Manipur People?s Army has inflicted heavy casualties on the army in Churachandpur and Chandel districts as ?baseless and fabricated?.

He also denied militant accusations that the army used civilians as human shields and forced them to work as labourers.

?The counter insurgency operations are people-friendly,? the GOC said.