A special court today sent alleged NSCN (IM) member Wuthikorn Naruenartwanich, who was extradited to India from Bangkok, to NIA's custody till December 21 in a case of allegedly supplying arms and ammunitions to insurgent groups in the north-east.
Naruenartwanich, a resident of Bangkok, was produced before District Judge Amar Nath after he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) following his extradition.
Seeking 15-day police remand of the accused, the NIA told the court that he was one of the conspirators in the case and was required to be interrogated thoroughly to unearth the entire conspiracy.
"Naruenartwanich is a Thai national and was stationed in Bangkok. Upon request made for extradition of accused Naruenartwanich in the instant case, the criminal court in Thailand has ordered extradition of the accused to stand trial in India in the instant case," the NIA said.
Subsequent to the order of Thai criminal court, Thailand handed him over to Indian authorities on December 8. Now he has been extradited to India, the probe agency said in its remand application filed in the court.
It also said that a non-bailable warrant was issued against Naruenartwanich by the court on April 15, 2011 and a red corner notice was also issued by Interpol.
During the proceedings, advocate Asim Ali, who appeared for Naruenartwanich, opposed NIA's plea seeking police remand of the accused.
NIA said that the case was lodged against Anthony Shimray, the chief arms procurer on NSCN (IM), T R Calvin, Hangshi Ramson Tangkhul and others under various sections of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for conspiring to procure huge quantity of arms and ammunitions from foreign countries.
It claimed that these arms were to be used for committing terror activities to wage war against the government of India and these accused had negotiated with arms dealers in Thailand and China for purchase of arms and ammunitions and had also deposited money for it with the foreign arms selling firms.
It said that a charge sheet was filed on March 26, 2011 against Shimray, Calvin, Tangkhul and Naruenartwanich and out of these four accused, only Shimray was under arrest while the others were absconders and red corner notices were issued against them. Shimray is facing trial in the case in special NIA court here.
