Assam: Army foils ULFA arms deal

The Army operating against insurgents in Assam have exposed a nexus between the banned ULFA, arms dealers and another insurgent group based in Manipur while foiling ULFA's bid to secure a major consignment of AK series assault rifles.

Army sources informed that the banned ULFA used to procure sophisticated arms from an assembling unit at Chrachandpur district in Manipur run by Kuki Revolutionary Army.

In a smooth operation, Army personnel from 6 J&K Rifles busted one such racket and arrested four persons including a ULFA leader, one KRA militant and an arms dealer from Dimapur in Nagaland.

The Army informed that its personnel on Saturday apprehended an ULFA militant and a KRA militant based in Manipur along with a Nagaland-based arms dealer from Laharijan under Bokajan police station of Karbi Anglong district in Assam while they were on their way to handover a consignment of Automatic Kalashnikov Rifles and M-16 rifles ammunition worth Rs 1.5

crore to the ULFA.

The arrested were identified as ULFA sergeant major Babul Baruah alias Prakash Baruah alias Kokai, a lieutenant of the KRA, Langming Than and arms peddler Mannan Khan.  Army also apprehended a driver of the vehicle, Abu Sama Ali, they were traveling in.

Raw materials and parts for these weapons are brought from foreign countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Italy, USA and China, to an assembling unit in Churachandpur in Manipur that is run by the KRA militant.

The weapons assembled here are supplied to different Northeast militant groups including the banned ULFA. It has been going on for years.

The ULFA had ordered for 50 AK-47 and AK-56 rifles and 5000 rounds of M-16 rifles ammunition on May 18 this year by paying Rs 1.5 crore in cash to Mannan who was supposed to procure the weapons and ammunition from the illegal arms assembling unit of KRA ultra Lalming Than in Churachandpur district of Manipur bordering Myanmar.