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Manipur, Tripura militants caught

By IANS,

Agartala : A militant of the outlawed People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of Manipur has been arrested here while a rebel from Tripura has been caught in Bangladesh, police said Friday.

Acting on a tip-off, Tripura Police nabbed PLA finance wing chief Kamjam Sarat Mongung, 57, Thursday night from a rented house at Usha Bazar on the outskirts of Agartala, and seized from him some secret documents of the separatist outfit and mobile phone sets, an official said.

The militant leader was staying at the rented house along with his daughter, who is a final-year student of the Tripura Medical College.

The PLA militant told police he has been maintaining close links with other northeast extremist outfits, including those who have taken shelter in Bangladesh. He has been in the outfit for more than 21 years, police said.

Tripura Police have informed Manipur Police about the arrest. Senior police officials are interrogating the rebel, sources said.

Manipur has about 20 militant groups, including seven banned outfits. These groups are divided on ethnic lines with competing demands.

In another development, Bangladesh security forces apprehended a top National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) leader, Subir Debbarma, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of southeastern Bangladesh Wednesday night.

“Debbarma, 48, is the second-in-command in the NLFT. Bangladesh security forces are interrogating the nabbed rebel leader,” a Tripura Police official told reporters, quoting intelligence reports.

NLFT and the All Tripura Tiger Force, both banned by the Indian authorities, have set up their bases in Bangladesh and get support from other separatist outfits of the northeast. They have been seeking secession of Tripura from India.