The National Investigating Agency on Friday arrested Manipur Congress MLA Yamthong Haokip in connection with a missing arms case, PTI reported.

“Yamthong Haokip was arrested for his involvement in procuring police pistols illegally and distributing them to different terrorist groups to wage war against the state,” the NIA said.

The agency is investigating the theft of 56 pistols and 58 magazines from the director general of police’s pool armoury, located inside the premises of the Second Manipur Rifles Battalion in Imphal. The weapons are believed to have gone missing between 2016 and early 2017.

“Owing to his recent illness, the NIA judge [in Imphal] ordered jail authorities to admit him in a government hospital,” the statement said. The agency has so far recovered 14 weapons in the case. The statement added that the agency had recovered one of the missing pistols from the Saikul MLA’s house in Imphal on July 30.

“During investigation, sufficient material and other evidence has been collected which established the complicity of the MLA in the case,” it said.