Ulfa (I) deputy commander-in-chief Drishti Rajkhowa and four of his close aides surrendered along with a large cache of arms on the Meghalaya-Assam-Bangladesh border on Tuesday, a result of “nine months of relentless pursuit”, a defence ministry statement said on Thursday.

Rajkhowa, 50, an explosives expert, was an active member of the “terrorist outfit” of Ulfa for 30 years. His surrender will deal a blow to the banned Ulfa (I) as it had been trying to gain prominence and revive insurgency in lower Assam by undertaking large-scale recruitment, an official statement said.

However, Ulfa (I) chief Paresh Baruah told the media that Rajkhowa, who hails from lower Assam’s Goalpara district, was allowed to surrender on “humanitarian grounds” because his wife was suffering from cancer and his two children were minors.

The development comes amid a fresh push by the Centre to end all insurgency movements in the Northeast.

Rajkhowa had been operating for Ulfa (I) along the Bangladesh, Assam and Meghalaya border but with Bangladesh stepping up its operations of late, he and the others crossed over to Meghalaya to surrender, sources said.

The aides who have surrendered have been identified as Vedanta, Yasin Asom, Ropjyoti Asom and Mithun Asom.