Fugitive ULFA chief Paresh Barua spotted in China

Paresh Barua, the fugitive 'commander-in-chief' of the anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam, has been reportedly spotted by Indian security agencies at various locations in China.

Barua is generally believed to be taking shelter in the Myanmar base of the outfit.

Director General of Assam Police Khagen Sharma said, “ULFA leader Paresh Barua has been located to areas within Chinese Territory on certain occasions.”

The Assam police chief who used to head the intelligence wing of the force till he was made the director general about a year back, on Tuesday informed that most sophisticated weapons of different makes used by the insurgent groups in the northeast and Assam were brought through Myanmar and Bangladesh.

He said weapons of different makes were first brought to either Myanmar or Bangladesh by the insurgent groups from the northeast from different arms markets and then sneaked into various states of the region through the porous border.

“First, the weapons are brought Myanmar and from there these are sneaked into Dimapur or Mizoram through the land border with that country. From Dimapur and Mizoram locations, weapons find their way to the armoury of insurgent groups. On some occasions, the weapons are sent to Bangladesh from Myanmar and from there these are brought to the N-E states through different routes,” the DGP said, adding that the
militants have stopped the earlier practice of bringing in weapons through sea routes because of constant vigil by security agencies.

Meanwhile, the all-out joint operation launched against the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit faction) in the wake of massacre of Adivasi villagers by the outfit on December 23 last year, continues.

“The operation against the NDFB-S has so far resulted in deaths of ten cadres of the outfit arrest of 204 cadres and 139 linkmen. All the camps of the outfit in Assam including its tactical base at Ultapani forest area have been busted by the security forces so far. About 40 cadres of the outfit are now at large in the state particularly in areas around Manas National Park bordering Bhutan while its central committee leaders are holed up in Myanmar base,” the police official said.

Over 100 sophisticated weapons, 164 grenades and over 62 kgs of explosives were recovered by the security forces during the on-going operation against the NDFB-S insurgents in Assam