Guwahati (Assam), April 23 : Army and Assam Police jointly nabbed five hardcore United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent (ULFA-I) cadres in two seperate operations and rescued seven minors recruited recently to join the outfit .
Five hardcore cadres were arrested by a joint team in Charaideo district of upper Assam early on Thursday. Secuirity forces also recovered a large cache of arms and ammunitions.
Acting on a tip -off on a tip-off the joint team cordoned Tairai village on Wednesday night and nabbed the ULFA-I cadres who were holed up in the house of one villager.
The arrested cadres as Apurba Gogoi, Simanta Gogoi, Yogen Gogoi, Lakhyajit Gogoi and Siddhartha Gogoi.
All the five cadres are hardcore militants and experts in making explosives .
According to police ,they are involved in several cases of murders, extortion’s, kidnappings since 2012 as well as the Republic Day blast this year in Sonari.
Though the cadres were unarmed at the time of their arrest their interrogation led to recovery of several assault rifles, pistols, ammunition and bomb making materials.
In a separate operation, seven minors who were recently recruited by ULFA-I were rescued by the Indian Army and Assam Police in a joint operation.
Based on specific intelligence input, the joint teams launched a well-coordinated and intensive campaign spread over Golaghat, Jorhat, Sibsagar, Charaideo, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts,” the army said in a statement.
According to the army, the arrested ULFA-I cadres and over ground workers were actively involved in recruiting new cadres and had been successful in luring several youths to join the outfit.
“The rescued youths belonging to well-to-do families were influenced and lured into joining the insurgent group through social media and online propaganda videos,” the statement said.
Following their rescue, the seven minors were counselled and reunited with their parents. “They were rejuvenated to see their missing children especially in these tough times of Covid-19 pandemic,” the statement said.
