An India-born British citizen, David Ward, has been arrested from Tuensang, Nagaland, near Myanmar for links with underground Naga rebel outfits.

He was arrested last Sunday for barging into a church during a congregation and threatening people with a pistol.

Official sources told PTI that Ward has been charged with violating section 13  of the Foreigners Act for not possessing valid travel documents, section 454 of IPC (house-breaking in order to commit offence), section 13 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and section 7 of NSR (Nagaland Security Regulation) Act.

The Briton, they added, has told interrogators that he was leading the London-based Naga Vigil Group under the banner of the banned Federal Government of Nagaland.

Ward, who is married to a Naga woman, is now in judicial custody at Dimapur Central Jail. He has been supporting the cause of the Naga militants since the early nineties.

Ward has been on the wanted list of the police for more than a year after he was released on bail after his last arrest in 2001 in Phek district. He had been arrested once earlier too.

The Assam-born Briton had damaged public property after picking up street quarrels before entering the church, the police said.

Ward told police that he had left his travel documents at Dimapur, but has failed to produce the valid papers.

Agencies