By IRNA
Guwahati, India : At least six guerrillas of a frontline separatist group were arrested in India’s northeastern state of Assam in stepped up offensive by security forces after it unraveled a plot by the outfit to hijack an aircraft, officials Friday said.
A police spokesman said a group of militants belonging to the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) was arrested from Goroimari village on the outskirts of Assam’s main city of Guwahati Thursday while trying to sneak into the city with a huge consignment of explosives in a boat.
“Not only did we manage to capture the six militants, but we also averted a major disaster as the group was carrying about 10 kg of RDX aimed at unleashing a reign of terror in Guwahati,” police chief of Kamrup Rural district Debojit Hazarika said.
Police in the last one week have arrested at least 10 ULFA militants from areas around Guwahati in separate raids, the latest in a stepped up anti-insurgency drive.
“The heat is on and we are getting the desired results with many dreaded ULFA militants in our net already,” another senior police official said.
The recent raids comes in the wake of leads provided by Manoj Tamuly, a hardcore ULFA militant, who was arrested by police last week from the outskirts of Guwahati.
Tamuly during interrogation told police and intelligence officials about a plot by the ULFA to hijack an aircraft for which cadres received specialized 18-day training somewhere in western Assam about six months ago from a Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) operative.
“Plans to hijack a plane was hatched and we also met in New Delhi with some of our top leaders to discuss this (hijacking plan) on November 14 last year,” Tamuly said while being brought to court in Guwahati.
Based on confessional statements of the arrested ULFA rebel, police swooped down on overground sympathizers of the outfit and arrested a rights leader, Lachit Bordoloi, and an executive of a private airline Air Deccan, Sumanta Dutta, from Guwahati.
Bordoloi and Dutta were arrested on charges of aiding and abetting the ULFA and helping in their plot to hijack an aircraft.
The duo denied the charges and said they were innocent.
The ULFA, fighting for an independent homeland in Assam since 1979, too denied any hijacking plot.
“From what we have heard from Tamuly and Dutta during interrogation is that the ULFA was seriously contemplating on the hijacking plot,” Debojit Deuri, additional police chief of Guwahati, said.
The ULFA and New Delhi entered into a ceasefire in 2005 August but the truce was called off after six weeks with the central government blaming the outfit of stepping up violence and indulging in extortions.
The ULFA said it would sit for peace talks with New Delhi only if the government agrees to discuss their main demand of sovereignty or independence and release five of their top jailed leaders.
New Delhi has already rejected to discuss the ULFA’s demand for sovereignty.
More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam during the past two decades.