Agartala: Two days after two top militants, including one purportedly trained by Pakistan’s ISI, of the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) were arrested in Tripura, two more hardcore cadres of the outfit and one of their collaborators were arrested on Saturday immediately after they fled from their Bangladeshi hideout, an official said.
The police said that acting on specific inputs of Special Branch, North Tripura district Police and Tripura State Rifles (TSR) conducted operations in the early morning of Saturday and arrested the extremists near Bhandarima along India-Bangladesh border.
The NLFT militants — Ganaram Reang and Raibahadur Reang — crossed the India-Bangladesh border after escaping from their Jupui camp in Bangladesh and took shelter in the house of one Railanhya Reang.
One Chinese Pistol, some cartridges, some NLFT’s subscription receipts, several incriminating documents, huge Indian and Bangladeshi currencies were recovered from the militants.
Police said that two NLFT leaders Sachin Debbarma and Uppal Debbarma were arrested late on Thursday night at Simna in western Tripura immediately after the duo entered the state from Bangladesh through a clandestine route. “Sachin was in Pakistan and he was trained by the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan before moving to Bangladesh,” a top police officer, who did not want to be named, told IANS.
A senior police official said that the extremist leaders were released from jail in Bangladesh a few days ago after several years in prison.
In Bangladesh, they had been involved in terror plots in Tripura for several years before their arrest by the Bangladesh police.