Security forces apprehended three persons including two cadres of Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) and recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition in Guwahati on Thursday, officials said.
Following a tip-off, Guwahati city police launched a search operation at Garchuk area in the city and apprehended the militants.
Security forces recovered one AK-56 rifle, one shot gun, one RPG launcher, 7 RPG shells, 375 rounds of live ammunition and Rs 50000 cash in possession of them.
The nabbed persons were identified as Janne Marak, Arwit Sangma and Zahid Hussain.
“Zahid is an arms dealer who received the arms carried from Dimapur and delivered it to militant group,” Assam police IGP of Central and Western range Dr LR Bisnoi said.
The arms came from Myanmar via Manipur and Nagaland, Dr Bisnoi added.
“Zahid had received the arms which came from Dimapur through the service bus and he had been trying to deliver it to garo militant group,” the top police official said.
Meanwhile, the nabbed militants revealed some secret information about the arms trade from Myanmar.
“We have already sent information of the nabbed garo militants to Meghalaya police,” Guwahati city police operation branch SP Ranjan Bhuyan said.
The militant groups of Meghalaya have used Guwahati as a transit route for arms trade.
In 2012, police had recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition including Hackler and Coch rifles, sophisticated weapons of the garo outfit group at Sonapur and Garchuk area, outskirts of the city.
