5 ULFA(I) militants arrested in Assam; arms and ammunition seized

Five ULFA (Independent) militants have been arrested and a huge cache of arms and ammunition seized from their possession in Assam's Charaideo district, police said on Thursday.

The owner of the house where the militants had taken shelter was also arrested, a senior police officer said.

The arrests come ahead of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal's scheduled visit to the district on Thursday, he said. Based on information about movement of ULFA(I) militants along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh-Nagaland border areas, security forces had intensified counter-insurgency operations, the officer said.

Acting on a tip-off that five persons were holed up in a house in Tarai village in Sapekhati police station area, the Assam Police and the Indian Army had launched a joint operation on Wednesday evening, he said.

The village was cordoned off and the five militants were apprehended from the house of Bhuvan Gogoi, the officer said.

The arrested persons include militants Apurba Gogoi alias Arohan Asom and Simanta Gogoi alias Maina, an explosives expert. Both were wanted in connection with cases of killing, kidnapping and extortion, he said.

The other militants are Biraj Asom alias Yogen Gogoi, Lakshyajit Gogoi alias Dhrubo Asom and Sidhartha Gogoi alias Hinmoy Asom, the officer said.

The militants were unarmed when apprehended but led the security forces to an arms dump near the house on Thursday morning, he said.

Three MQ 81 assault rifles along with eight magazines and 323 rounds of ammunition, a Russian-made 7.65 mm pistol with one magazine and two bullets, a .22 mm pistol with one magazine and two bullets, two kg of a "gelatin-like" explosives material, seven pieces of cordtex wire and 16 pieces of detonators were seized, the officer said.

All the six arrested persons will be tested for COVID-19, he added.