Manipur: NIA starts investigating bank robbery in the Ukhrul district

Imphal: After around two years in hiatus, the National Investigation Agency has started probing the robbery of over Rs 18.85 crore from a Punjab National Bank (PNB) branch in Manipur in 2023.

A case in this connection was registered on September 3, 2025, following an order from the Union Home Ministry, reports said on Wednesday. The order followed after the arrests of the armed cadres belonging to the eastern faction of the NSCN/IM (National Socialist Council of Nagaland/Isak Muivah), led by self-styled Lt Col (then Major) P Joseph alias P Jackson, were reportedly captured from Roni village in Manipur's  Kamjong district, sharing borders with Myanmar to the southeast, recently.

Notably, in connection with the bank heist, the Manipur police picked up a driver whose vehicle, a Bolero, had transported looters along with booty towards the Manipur-Myanmar international border, specifically at pillar number 124-126.

After looting Rs 18.85 crores from the PNB at Viewland Ukhrul, Ukhrul district headquarters, on November 30, 2023, the unidentified armed miscreants have reportedly fled towards the Indo-Myanmar border through the Ukhrul-Jessami National Highway 202. This was reportedly informed by the arrested driver to the police interrogators.

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Police said that the looters in their directives in the looting works spoke in Nagamese, Meiteilon, and Tangkhul languages.

The driver, a resident of Sihai Khullen in Ukhrul district, was allegedly forced into providing transportation to the robbers in his Mahindra Bolero camper from Sinai village to the international border of around 30 km distance.

The driver disclosed that around 7 pm on November 30, 2023, the looters compelled him to transport them towards Sihai Kahaophung village, approximately 10 km from his residence. After dropping them at Sihai Kahaophung, he returned home at around 8 pm.

The armed miscreants on that day, at around 5:40 pm, looted the Bank, according to the Police investigation. It took just 12 minutes to execute the whole robbery, one of the biggest bank heists in the northeastern states.

Out of the 10 looters, 9 of them wore masks, while a single looter was seen with his face unmasked. The CCTV emerged on social media. Police said that with the establishment of the face of the unmasked looter on the CCTV footage, it will not be long before to trap the looters.