GUWAHATI, June 18 ? United National Liberation Front (UNLF), a militant group, operating from Myanmar has been providing arms and ammunition to several underground organisations of the North-east India, highly placed official sources disclosed today. The sources said that the security forces deployed along the Indo-Myanmar border for counter insurgency operations, confirmed that the militant outfit of late has provided a huge cache of arms and ammunition to the ULFA and the NDFB.
The UNLF, one of the oldest militant outfits of Manipur, has been operating from different hideouts of Myanmar. The sources further revealed that the UNLF has fixed a deal with the leadership of ULFA and NDFB for supplying of arms and ammunition across the Manipur border taking advantage of lack of forces. ?The UNLF has close links with several illegal arms suppliers of Laos which are running business in various parts of Myanmar,? they added. In this context, they stated that apart from international arms suppliers, the leadership of the militant group is maintaining a cordial rtelation with the military junta of Myanmar. ?According to reports, the UNLF has procured weapons from the junta and it has started selling to various underground groups of the region,? the sources added.
Giving more information about weapons procurement, they disclosed that now-a-days, most of the militant groups have procured arms and ammunition from the UNLF. The Indo-Burma routes are safe compared to other routes of the region as revealed by some arrested members of the militant groups, the NDFB are now using the Indo-Myanmar routes for procuring weapons. Asked about the steps initiated by the security agencies to contain the menace, the sources said that the Home Ministry has chalked out a proposal to increase the strength of present forces in view of frequent movement of ultras in the region. Moreover, the respective state governments have demanded the Centre to deploy more companies to intensify patrolling, they said. It may be mentioned that though the Assam Rifles and the Border Security Force (BSF) have been deployed to guard the Manipur border, the present forces are not enough to overcome the problem.