Police recover German rifle, cartridges and grenades from arrested KLO activitist

Jalpaiguri Feb 14: Police on Wednesday evening recovered a German made HK 33 (Heckler & Koch) rifle, 300 rounds of live cartridges and four hand grenades from the possession of Pradip Burman alias Raghu, the Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO) ultra who was arrested from Kamakshyaguri under Kumargramduar police station on Monday night.

Raghu was in 7 seven days police remand. Police said Raghu revealed about the arms which he had reportedly buried on the banks of Sankosh River in the Bengal-Assam Boarder during interrogation. Raghu is a resident of Simul Tapu in Kokrajhar district of Assam who is said to be the conman in keeping the KLO leaders from Assam and Bengal in contact.

Pradip was arrested from near the Kamakshyaguri railway station with Rs.1.5 lakh cash, two mobile handsets and 12 SIM cards that was supposed to be delivered to one Nityanand in Siliguri near the Indo-Nepal border. Nityanand is a wanted KLO activitist in connection with few cases in Assam’s Dhubri district.

Jalpaiguri SP, Amit P Javalgi, said that the arms recovered belonged to Pradip that proves he was a trained KLO cadre. “We will be able to know about the place of his training only after further interrogation. At this stage we can say that the arms recovered are very much sophisticated and we are trying to crack the gang that supplied these arms to the outfit,” he said.

Police had also recovered 13 arms from different places in the Dooars recently for which nine persons were arrested. Police is trying to find out whether the arrested persons have any connection with the KLO or the gang that supplies arms to the insurgent outfit.

The recovery of the arms has made the sleuths to believe that the Rajbongshi insurgent outfit is yet again active and is trying hard to launch a fresh movement in North Bengal and lower Assam that has ample population demanding a separate Kamtapur state.

After their camps in Bhutan were dismantled in 2003 in an offensive, the Kamtapuri outfit now aims to regain its strength by motivating Rajbongshi youths. In an effort to regain public support and to propagate their ideology among the Rajbongshi population, pro-Kamtapur activists have once again launched an extensive drive in the villages of North Bengal and Assam where there is considerable population of the Rajbongshis. Headed by the Kamtapur People’s Party, some bailed out Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO) cadres are also participating in the exercise.

‘Manipuri insurgent’ arrested in Naxalbari

Kolkata Feb 14: A Special Task Force (STF) team of Kolkata police arrested a suspected Manipuri insurgent from Naxalbari area in Darjeeling on February 11.

The suspect, identified as Bunty Singh alias Bijen alias Angamba alias Hira, was brought to the city late Tuesday night produced in court today.

Bunty Singh is a allegedly senior member of United Peoples Party of Kangleipak (UPPK), a banned terrorist organisation in Manipur.

According to sources in STF, the 35-year-old Bunty Singh, who used to work for the organisation as finance manager, has several times visited the city and has a strong network in the state. "Bunty Singh is suspected to be involved in several kidnapping cases in Siliguri and Alipurduar regions in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts. We are probing the cases," said a senior STF official.

Bunty Singh is also said to have close links with the most wanted UPPK leader Kanta Singh. "Bunty Singh used to stay and work as an associate of Kanta Singh in Nepal. We have arrested him from the Indo-Nepal border. However, we could not reach Kanta Singh as he was at the Nepal side of the border. We are also trying to find the network Bunty Singh has here. He used to run an arms supply racket in the state," said the official.

United Peoples Party of Kangleipak (UPPK) is a breakaway faction of the People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), which is an armed insurgent group in Manipur demanding a separate and independent homeland.