Agartala: Tripura Police have arrested as many as four militants and a collaborator associated with the proscribed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) in separate operations.
Police sources said these arrests would further weaken the rebel outfit already facing multi-pronged challenges like a drastic fall in cadre strength and financial hurdles. The collaborator who had been picked up on Saturday with two active militants belonged to the resettled Brus who are now permanent residents of Tripura.
Speaking on the issue, SP North Tripura District Bhanu Pada Chakraborty said, “We have arrested three persons from a Bru settlement located in North Tripura. Among them, Rai Taingha Reang is a Bru migrant who had been helping the cadres identified as Gana Ram Reang and Rai Bahadur Reang. They are domiciles of the state.”
One of the arrested persons had joined the militant outfit in July 2023, Chakraborty added. When asked whether the NLFT had been trying to penetrate among the resettled Brus, Chakraborty said, “We haven’t started thinking this way yet. We have received a tip-off that two NLFT cadres are in the Khansa Para Bru camp. A joint operation with the help of TSR and police was launched and they had been detained. Now we have to see where the investigation leads us,” he told EastMojo.
A Chinese Pistol, bullets, extortion notices and currencies of Bangladesh and India had been seized from their possession.
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Meanwhile, two top NLFT ultras were arrested on Thursday at Khowai.
Sachin Debbarma, the former chief of army staff of the outlawed outfit, and its political secretary Utpal Debbarma had been detained by police when they reportedly entered into Indian territory from the hideouts of Bangladesh. Both are accused in multiple cases of abduction, extortion and UAPA charges. A local Court on Friday sent Utpal Debbarma to 14-days jail custody allowing the police to carry out interrogation.
Also Read: I couldn’t sleep whole night waiting: Father of child burnt alive