Security forces had recovered arms and ammunition from different places in BTAD (File)
The Assam police on Friday recovered a massive cache of arms, ammunition and explosives at Udalguri of Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD). The operation, a day before the Independence Day, was carried out jointly by the Guwahati city police and the local police.
The seized arms include five AK-56 rifles, two AK-47 rifles, two M-16 rifles, one air gun, seven 9 mm pistols, 23 magazines, five 36 hand grenades, five HE bombs, seven 40 mm grenades, 166 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition, 300 rounds of .303 ammunition, 79 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 200 detonator caps, 20 striker springs and 20 kg explosives.
"We acted on a secret information and conducted a joint operation at Udalguri last night, in which we recovered these arms and explosives. We have recovered explosives also. We suspect that these weapons might belong to NDFB (National Democratic Front of Boroland) factions. We are investigating all aspects," Guwahati police commissioner MP Gupta told NDTV.
Earlier this month, security forces had recovered arms and ammunition from different places in BTAD. Arms and ammunition were also found in Kokrajhar, Baksa and Chirang districts.
All the factions of NDFB has signed a peace agreement with the Centre and Assam government and had disbanded. As per the peace deal, they were supposed to surrender all their arms and ammunition.
The recovery of arms from different parts of BTAD has raised concerns whether the disbanded militant groups have handed over all their weapons.