Tura-bound dealers held with weapons meant for militants

Dhubri, Dec. 12 : The arrests of three arms dealers have proved that militant groups in the Garo hills districts of Meghalaya bordering Goalpara and Kamrup are fortifying themselves with arms and ammunition supplied from the neighbouring states.

Mozammel Haque, 38, Rahim Ali, 25 and Ranjan Biswas, 42 of Jalpaiguri (in West Bengal) were yesterday apprehended by the 13th Sikh Regiment and police with arms and ammunition while they were travelling to Tura in Meghalaya in a car near Lakhipur under Goalpara district.

The army seized a 7.65 pistol of Italian make, two 9mm pistols and a magazine loaded with five rounds of ammunition.

In another joint operation by the army and the police, Nur Hussain, 35, a cadre of the Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam (Multa), was apprehended from Phulgasa village under Lakhipur police station of Goalpara with a 9mm pistol and ammunition today.

All four were handed over to Lakhipur police station, an army source said.

The source said the three had contacts with some individuals in Tura and they were going to supply arms and ammunition to them.

The consignment could be for some militant groups active in Garo hills districts, the source

“The police are interrogating them and after a thorough interrogation, it could be known to which group the consignment was meant for. But we are keeping a close watch on the findings of interrogation which will help us in our next operation,” the army source said.

Goalpara additional superintendent of police Sushanta Biswa Sarma said security forces and the police were leaving no stone unturned to break the networks of all militants groups and for that they were operating fast as soon as any information reached.

On the GNLA, Sarma said that according to the police, this militant group was not operating in Goalpara district. An intelligence source working in lower Assam said after the ethnic clash between the Rabhas and the Garos in January this year, militants of the Rabha Viper Army (RVA) and the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) have become more active.