BY- Lipika Roy
KOKRAJHAR: In a major breakthrough, Assam Police have successfully arrested as many as 10 United Liberation for Bodoland (ULB) cadres so far in 24 hours.
The cadres were arrested by the police and the CRPF in separate joint operations, said IGP for the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) LR Bishnoi.
In a press conference held at the office of the Superintendent of Police, Kokrajhar today Bishnoi said that among the 17 members included in the ULB list recovered during the operation 10 people have been arrested so far.
Among the 10 cadres of the militant group, eight were arrested in Kokrajhar district while one each was arrested from Chirang and Baksa district.
Ringkhang Basumatary, who has introduced himself as district commander in chief of ULB was arrested from Chirang.
The arrested cadre from Baksa has been identified as Dangsrang Basumatary.
Police recovered 21 demand letters for money, 12 mobile phones, and two hand grenades from the ULB cadres.
Among the 21 demand letters for money 18 were recovered from Baksa while three were recovered from Kokrajhar.
The letters were written in Bodo language, said police.
The militant group has recently circulated a video threatening bombing in the state and the BTR with a dateline till October.
There were a total of 10 cadres in the video among which six have been identified by police while two have already been arrested.
Bishnoi further stated that an investigation to identify and arrest other cadres in other videos is underway.
He further appealed to the militant group not to do any unlawful activities to maintain peace in the region.
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He also urged the general public to not circulate fake news which disturbs communal harmony among the people and that to inform the police immediately if they come across any such issue, police will help them,.
The new militant group, ULB, has emerged at a time when Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) chief Pramod Boro speaks of the region’s return to peace and harmony.
The goal of this new militant group is to form a separate large state “Bodoland”.
The situation in the BTR region is tensed since two alleged ULB cadres have been killed by Assam Police in Kokrajhar on September 18.
The deceased have been identified as–Jwngsar Musahary, a resident of Salguri of Patgaon, and Janak Kumar Brahma, from Parbatjhara under Kokrajhar district.
It is pertinent to mention that while Police have claimed that the two were cadres of ULB, the villagers and the militant group itself claimed that the youths were not their members.
Villagers called it a planned cold-blooded murder.
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