Anthony Shing

New Delhi, Oct. 14: NSCN (Isak-Muivah) leader Anthony Shing has been remanded in the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for two more weeks as a probe into allegations of arms procurement is expected to expand to Bangladesh and Thailand.

“He probably has an account in the HSBC bank in Bangladesh and a major Thai bank,” a source said.

Shing, who is also known as Ningkhan Shimray, is the “head of foreign affairs of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim”. The key functionary of the Naga rebel outfit travelled from Thailand to Nepal on September 27 and was apparently held by the Nepalese authorities.

Officially, he was picked up a few days later from the Indo-Nepal border in Bihar and later produced in a court in Patna. The court gave the NIA his custody for a fortnight before he was produced in a special NIA court in Delhi on Tuesday.

Sources said investigation into Shing’s alleged arms procurement deals might now involve the Thai and Bangladesh police forces. He is alleged to have several bank accounts in these two countries perhaps in the names of other people as well. The ministry of home affairs is likely to write soon to authorities in Bangkok and Dhaka to investigate into the matter.

The NSCN (I-M), which has been holding peace talks with New Delhi since 1997, feels betrayed. The outfit has claimed that Shing was on his way to India to attend the next round of peace talks, scheduled for September 29, when he went missing after landing in Kathmandu on September 27, 2010.

He flew from Bangkok with Royal Nepal Airlines flight number AR 402 reportedly after being deported following the lapse of his resident visa in Thailand.

“Right now, we would not like to comment on the issue as we have taken up the matter with the government officially,” a senior NSCN (I-M) functionary told this correspondent.

The sources said since Shing was to participate in the round of talks and the NSCN (I-M) is in a ceasefire agreement with the Centre, it was unfair on part of the government to have arrested a senior leader of the group.

Over the past 13 years, both the government and the rebels have travelled some distance in the peace process. The hurdle, however, has been the insistence of general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah to talk beyond the purview of the Constitution. That is unacceptable to the government and the talks have been stuck.

With the arrest of Shing, the rebel outfit is in a quandary over how to handle the situation in the midst of peace talks because Shing is a key functionary and his arrest prevents the NSCN (I-M) from taking a high moral ground.

Following the development, the Centre has managed to win a bargaining chip it may now use to alter the course of the peace talks.