NSCN(K) making a mint by training NE ultra groups

SOMEWHERE IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH, August 16 His name is Chipo Menon. He is the military and political supervisor of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) for Tirap and Changlang in Arunachal Pradesh. He holds the rank of 'Lt. Col' in the organisation and is considered a natural successor to Khaplang, who is reportedly suffering from prostrate cancer. "Chipo combines the shrewdness of his Malayalee father and the physical agility of his Wancho mother" remarked a military officer. What prompted him to drift towards NSCN (K) is not known. His father was an IAS officer, and so his childhood was not that of deprivation. It was probably the thought of adventure and romance that attracted him to the most dreaded and heavily armed insurgent outfit of the Northeast. As the military and political supervisor for Tirap and Changlang, he has succeeded in turning these two districts into safe entry and exit routes for Myanmar. His operations are supported by a self-styled Major, Shomchai Wangpa. The group has put the fear of death in the brave Nocte and Wancho tribes who, till three to four decades back, were known for head-hunting and had indeed unleashed a reign of terror in the neighbouring Assam district of Dibrugarh. It was the march of freedom and democracy in the country that persuaded the Wanchos and Noctes to shun head-hunting. Despite the Army-to-Army cooperation between India and Myanmar, it is extremely difficult for the latter to smash the underground camps because of difficult terrain and the lack of infrastructure. The NSCN(K) camps spread over the Kachin area have become the major training centres for the outlaws of the Northeast, next only to ISI. But unlike the latter, NSCN(K) charges a lot of money from the Northeast extremist groups for training and providing weapons. In recent years training has become one of the largest revenue spinner for the groups, next only to the extortion racket that it runs from Changlang to Mon to Dimapur.