TURA: One of the few surviving members of the now extinct, Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) who had been holed up inside Bangladesh for well over four years, was finally arrested inside Garo Hills on Sunday afternoon.
Senior GNLA militant Nikrak M Sangma alias Kaltush was nabbed at remote Rongara area, close to the international border, by a special police team from Baghmara late Sunday afternoon.
The militant had crossed over from Bangladesh dressed as a villager when he was intercepted.
South Garo Hills police chief Abraham T Sangma told The Shillong Times that police had received credible information from their sources that the GNLA militant with support from ULFA cadres and criminal gangs from the neighbouring country was planning to revive the GNLA outfit which had ceased to exist after the death of its commander in chief, Sohan D Shira in an encounter with in East Garo Hills in 2018.
Prior to the death of Sohan, Kaltush had been operating from the neighbouring country with logistical support for the outfit.
He had been deputed by Sohan to Bangladesh in 2015 to supervise the shipment of uniforms, arms and ammunition for the outfit.
A member of the 3rd batch of GNLA cadres who underwent arms training in the Garo Hills forests, Kaltush had joined the rebel group in 2011.
Following the death of Sohan Shira, the remaining group of GNLA militants operating in Garo Hills had surrendered to the authorities.
However, Kaltush, who was based in Bangladesh and knew the operational methods of the group and the routes used for smuggling weapons, kept a low profile and did not surrender.
Garo Hills police claim he was the mastermind behind a series of kidnappings of civilians for ransom in the southern district.
Those abducted were most of the time taken across the border and released only after the ransom was paid.
With his arrest, police are optimistic they will get to know the progress made by Kaltush and the ULFA in trying to regroup the GNLA.