Kathmandu: The security forces in Nepal have arrested 96 people in stepped up operation to control violence and terror by armed groups, particularly in the Terai plains bordering India.

Formed by the government to improve the security in the country, the Special Task Force (STF), led by Armed Police Force (AFP), arrested 96 people, many of them carrying arms from various districts, according to officials. In the past 24 hours alone 19 people, including 10 belonging to Terai Mukti Tigers were arrested from Morang and Sarlahi districts, officials said.

The STF recovered a Chinese pistol, five mobile sets, a motorcycle and donation pads from the members of Terai Mukti Tigers, a group active in southern Nepal, were arrested from Hospital Chowk in the country's industrial town of Biratnagar yesterday. The STF has arrested 77 persons belonging to armed and criminal gangs from 11 districts, including eight troubled districts of Terai as of Saturday evening, according to the Nepal Police.

The police also confiscated five pistols, one musket, two dozen bullets including that of AK 47 rifles and a CDMA telephone set from them. The government has deployed the STF in Kathmandu and eight Terai districts in the wake of increasing incidents of abduction, extortion, robbery and killing mainly in southern Nepal. The government deployed the STF comprising Nepal Police and APF personnel under Special Security Plan in Bara, Parsa, Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Rautahat and Sarlahi in the Terai plains, besides the three districts in Kathmandu Valley on December 1.

Source : PTI