GUWAHATI, Dec 31 ? Though the process of handing over of the militants arrested by the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) to India is still on, security agencies are of the view that several senior militants are still in the captivity of the RBA. Highly placed security sources said that the RBA has informed the Government of India about the arrest of several other top leaders of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) but they are yet to be handed over to India. According to information available with the security agencies, top leaders of the ULFA and NDFB including the NDFB publicity secretary B Erakdao and ULFA leaders Benning Rabha, Asanta Baghphukan and Robin Neog are believed to be in the captivity of the RBA. ?However, we shall be able to confirm their arrest only after they are handed over to India,? sources added. It may be mentioned here that the Government of Bhutan has already handed over a number of militants arrested during the crackdown by the RBA including the ULFA ideologue Bhimkanta Buragohain and publicity secretary Mithinga Daimari to Indian Army.
Sources said that the RBA has busted all the camps of the militants in Bhutan and the operation to flush out the militants hiding in the jungles is still on. Though at one point of time, the ULFA had more than a thousand cadres in the camps in Bhutan, security sources said that the outfit relocated its cadres just before the crackdown due to the tough stand adopted by the Government of Bhutan and only about five to six hundred cadres were in the camps of the Himalayan Kingdom when the crackdown began on December 15. Sources said that at the time of the crackdown, the NDFB had about three hundred cadres in Bhutan. The security agencies are of the view that just before the crackdown, the ULFA managed to move out some of its cadres to Myanmar, Bangladesh Garo Hills bordering Bangladesh etc. Almost all the top leaders of the ULFA managed to move out of Bhutan before the crackdown, sources added.
Meanwhile, the Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) also suffered major set back in the crackdown and 19 militants arrested in Bhutan have been handed over to Police. The KLO militants handed over to police by the RBA include the vice chairman of the outfit Harshabardhan Barman, Commander in chief Milton Barman and the action squad commander Tom Adhikary. Six KLO militants have been apprehended in North Bengal and one was killed when they were trying to sneak into India from Bhutan.
From the interrogation of the arrested KLO militants, the security agencies have come to know the details of the activities of the outfit and its links with the ULFA. The arrested KLO militants told the security agencies that they had three major camps in Bhutan and about 75-80 militants were in the camps when the RBA launched the crackdown. The KLO militants gave in without any retaliation when the RBA attacked the camps and some of the militants are scattered in Bhutan jungles. The Chairman of the outfit Jiban Singha is now in Bangladesh and the other important leaders of the KLO, who are still at large include the Finance Secretary Pulastha Barman and organising secretary Animesh Adhikary. However, their whereabouts are still not known, sources added.