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Activist, airline employee, journalist held in foiled ULFA hijack plot

February 11, 2008 19:40 IST

Prominent human rights activist and ULFA-appointed negotiator Lachit Bardoloi and an employee of a private airline were held by the Assam police on Monday in connection with the now busted United Liberation Front of Asom plot to hijack an aircraft from the international airport in Guwahati.

The arrests were made on the basis of confessions made by arrested ULFA cadre Manoj Tamuly, who was allegedly trained by an Inter Services Intelligence operative.

Meanwhile, chief minister Tarun Gogoi has warned that the police crackdown against those involved in aiding and abetting ULFA activities will continue in the state.

Bardoloi, who was a member of the Peoples Consultative Group constituted by the ULFA to facilitate its direct talks with Government of India, was arrested by the police from Moran in upper Assam on Monday morning. The police also seized his laptop computer.

The police also picked up Suman Dutta, an employee of a private airline, from his Guwahati residence for alleged connections to the ULFA's plane hijack conspiracy. The police said more arrests were likely in the case.

Earlier, prominent lawyer Nekibur Zaman and TV journalist Pradip Gogoi had been booked by the police in connection with the same case. The police claimed that the ULFA was conspiring to hijack a plane from Guwahati airport to Rawalpindi in Pakistan via Thimphu in Bhutan.

Arrested ULFA man Manoj Tamuly and others had received training in carrying out hijackings in the jungles of Baksa districts of Assam, adjacent to Bhutan border. The training was imparted by a suspected ISI operative.
K Anurag in Guwahati