Three insurgents of the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT-BM) who had earlier returned to normal life, were arrested in West Tripura. (Representational) Three insurgents of the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT-BM) who had earlier returned to normal life, were arrested in West Tripura late evening on Sunday. Officials said they were held for allegedly distributing extortion notices on behalf of the outfit.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Inspector General (Law and Order) Arindam Nath on Monday said the three were arrested at Arjun Thakur Para of Takarjala last evening based on intelligence inputs.
“The arrestees are Prasenjit Debbarma, Ramu Debbarma and Rathindra Debbarma. All three were produced before a local court with charges of extortion and involvement outlawed terrorist outfits”, the official said.
According to police reports, among the arrestees, Prasenjit Debbarma was arrested for terror links in Bangladesh and was pushed back to India in 2017 while Ramu Debbarma and Rathindra Debbarma laid down arms around 2006 and returned to normal life.
However, they were arrested for serving extortion notices to a few people including a temple at Arjun Thakur Para of Takarjala. They are also known to have collected se extortion money recently for NLFT.
The arrest comes two months after Director General of Tripura Police VS Yadav said on December 24 last year that NLFT was cash strapped, short of cadres and was desperately trying to recruit new hands.
The official had then announced the surrender of top four commanders of the NLFT-Biswamohan outfit, including self-styled assistant foreign secretary Rathan Kalai alias Reuben, self-styled assistant organizing secretary Joy Sadhan Jamatia alias Jara, self-styled assistant publicity and information secretary Madhu Ranjan Noatia alias Yafung and self-styled deputy chief of army staff Kukila Tripura alias Yarung.
NLFT was banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in 1997 and has been operating from their camps across the international border. NLFT has been responsible for violent activities, including 317 insurgency incidents in which 28 security forces and 62 civilians lost their lives during the period 2005-2015. Peace talks with NLFT were initiated in 2015 and there has been no violence by NLFT since 2016.
Tripura shares 856-km-long international border with neighbouring Bangladesh, of which around 67 km area is unfenced.
