By Our Reporter
Shillong: A day after security forces busted GNLA’s self-styled “commander-in-chief” Sohan D. Shira’s camp, Meghalaya Police has claimed that it has obtained several information regarding Shira’s activities from within his organisation.
“We have been getting good inputs from within the organisation following a rift among the senior cadres of the outfit,” Meghalaya DGP N Ramachandran told scribes here on Monday.
Ramachandran said, “Infighting within the GNLA has been going on and some very senior cadres are providing information to the police.”
The DGP said the police would be ruthless while dealing with the GNLA cadres.
“We have had excellent results with the kind of precise strikes we have made. The outfit’s top leadership is actually on the run,” he said.
However, clear instructions have been issued to the security forces to avoid collateral damages and civilian casualties, he said
When asked about the safety of the police informers, Ramachandran said none of the police informers have been killed by the outfit.
“Those who have been killed by the GNLA were not police informers. In fact, they were some innocent civilians,” he said.
Asked on the reasons why Shira managed to give the security forces a slip every time a raid was conducted, the DGP said, “The terrain (where the camps are located) is very difficult and inaccessible.”
On Sunday’s raid, Ramachandran said going by the amount of firepower which the police seized, it seems that the group must be planning something major. “But the timely action of police has averted a major catastrophe” he said. The security forces recovered 66 high explosive bombs, a single-barrel muzzle-loading gun, a mobile phone and incriminating documents from the camp, which was located around 2km south of Bawegre village in East Garo Hills district. He also informed the arms were being provided by other militant outfits like the ULFA and the NSCN.
“They (GNLA) have also been collecting money, and part of it is being used to buy arms and the anti-talk faction of the NDFB has been aiding the outfit,” Ramachandran said. Meanwhile, the DGP has also refuted reports of GNLA working in tandem with the HNLC. “Some criminals would just like to take the claims in order to extort money. It is just one of their tactics”, he said. When asked about the whereabouts of the GNLA “chairman” Champion R. Sangma, the DGP said “We haven’t received any information about him.” Reportedly, Sangma, a former deputy superintendent of police, was arrested by Bangladeshi security forces from Mymensingh district on November 23 last year. “No exact information has been received from Dhaka about Sangma as yet”, Ramachandran said.
