Five hardcore senior Ulfa (I) cadres were apprehended in a joint operation and a huge amount of arms and ammunition recovered from their possession in Charaideo district of Upper Assam.

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal was scheduled to visit Charaideo district on Thursday.

Charaideo superintendent of police Anand Mishra told The Telegraph over phone on Thursday, “It’s a big blow for the insurgent group. We have successfully conducted the joint operation and held all the five hardcore Ulfa(I) cadres and recovered arms and ammunition.”

Mishra said all the nabbed rebels have been sanitised and are being put through medical scanning and Covid tests.

Mishra said based on general information about movement of Ulfa (I) cadres in the Assam-Arunachal-Nagaland border areas, counter-insurgency operations were intensified in Charaideo district, along with the fight with coronavirus and special relief work undertaken.

Sources said the hardcore Ulfa (I) cadres had entered through the Indo-Myanmar border and were planning subversive activities.

So far 127 Covid-19 cases were detected in Myanmar, with four deaths.

On Wednesday afternoon, information was received that five suspicious persons were holed up in the house of one Bhuvan Gogoi of Tairai village at Satianaguri under Sapekhati police station.

Led by the superintendent of police, a joint operation was launched by Charaideo district police and army unit from Sapekhati, led by their commander. The village was completely cordoned off by late evening and a raid was conducted wherein the five rebels were apprehended.

The names of the rebels are self-styled sergeant major Apurba Gogoi alias Arohan Asom, self-styled sergeant major Simanta Gogoi alias Maina, self-styled sergeant major Biraj Asom alias Yogen Gogoi, self-styled private Lakshyajit Gogoi alias Dhrubo Asom, self-styled private Sidhartha Gogoi alias Chinmoy Asom.

According to sources, Arohan and Maina are from among the top cadres of Ulfa (I). Police said Maina is a known IED expert. Both of them have been wanted in a series of cases in Sivasagar/Charaideo districts since 2012. Other than numerous abductions, murders and extortion cases, they were involved in cases of firing upon Kanubari tea factory and Sapekhati petrol pump, kidnapping of Timon Habi tea estate manager and the Republic Day bomb blast in the Teok ghat area under Sonari police station.

According to police, they were unarmed when apprehended. A cache of arms, ammunition and other items buried underground were recovered on Thursday morning, around 200 metres away from the house where they were hiding.

Mishra said legal action would be taken against six persons — the five Ulfa (I) cadres and the overground worker in whose house they were hiding.