TURA: Garo Hills police have seized a large amount of explosives, including electronic detonators, from a Tura-registered vehicle abandoned by its occupants after police set up a road block in the Bajengdoba region of North Garo Hills on Tuesday night.
The banned ULFA of Assam is believed to be the owner of the explosives and was reportedly sending it across to the banned GNLA in Garo Hills when police set up a surprise road check point in Bajengdoba, 80 kms from Tura, after receiving intelligence inputs about the shipment of the explosives.
A police picket at Berubari village,on the main national highway in Bajengdoba region of North Garo Hills had spotted a white Mahindra Bolero vehicle approaching from the Assam side of the border in the darkness of the night.
When the police team signalled the vehicle to stop the driver made an attempt to break through the police barrier.
As the vehicle passed through police opened fire targetting the tyres of the vehicle. The vehicle managed to move some distance before the two occupants abandoned it and fled into the nearby forests taking advantage of the darkness.
When police searched the vehicle they found as many as 1200 gelatin explosive sticks which is used by militants to prepare improvised explosive devices to target security forces.
Police also recovered as many as 1000 electronic detonators and 100 non-electronic detonators. Both detonators are required for triggering IED explosions.
The Bolero vehicle, bearing Tura number ML08 D 8888, is learnt to be registered to a Muslim person from Assam.
The finger of suspicion is squarely on the ULFA and GNLA militant outfits. Both share a common agenda and have been working in tandem since the time of the Garo outfit’s formation more than five years ago.
The ULFA is known to have a huge stockpile of explosives which is in big demand by the GNLA. ULFA militants are known to take shelter in GNLA camps and are regularly guided through the Garo Hills jungles into Assam and Bangladesh by GNLA militants.
