“Foreign Interference in India’s North-East – The Threat of a Separate Christian Nation Part-II”, My Ind Maker, April 25, 2026
“In this second part of the series, we address an important question: which are the routes through which arms and ammunition are smuggled into India? Most sophisticated military-grade weapons entering the North-East are traced back to Myanmar, sourced through a fragmented and informal ecosystem. Previously, in 2023, a 40-year-old American citizen and ex-US Army veteran, Daniel Stephen Courney, who also claims to be a preacher, had caused a stir in Manipur and fueled an intense debate over foreign interference in the North-East.[1] Under the guise of humanitarian aid, videos of Courney distributing military-grade protective gear, including long-range surveillance drones (capable of operations beyond five kilometres), bulletproof jackets, combat helmets, boots, sleeping bags, and other military equipment to Kuki militants in Manipur, had surfaced online.
In one of the clips, Courney could be seen expressing solidarity with the Kuki-Zo community, whom he described as being “persecuted” for their Christian faith.[2] He also explicitly likened his donated drones to those used by the US Special Forces for monitoring the enemy and positioning local security forces. It was later known that in India, his missionary outreach work has been focused on the tribal and inaccessible areas of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Manipur. The curious case of the so-called “climate activist” from Manipur, Licpriya Kangujam, is also quite well-known. At the peak of the conflict in Manipur in June 2023, she had met Pope Francis in the Vatican, briefing him about the ongoing violence in the state and urging him to restore peace.[3]
Later, in January 2024, Licpriya took to her official Facebook handle, requesting her followers and supporters to help acquire a “thermal drone” to aid in the conflict in Manipur.[4] She was reported to have distributed drones and night vision cameras to militants during the conflict in Manipur. Undoubtedly, this is a covert Western strategy that has been going on repeatedly, masked in the garb of “religious charity”. It is led by missionary networks to create strategic footholds in the North-East and ignite tensions. Militant groups of the North-East operating with Western-origin weapons aren’t simply a local issue. It exposes a wider South-East Asian arms network connecting the different North-Eastern states with Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia via Myanmar…….”
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