46 NLFB cadres surrender, lay down weapons in Assam

A total of 46 members of the newly formed insurgent outfit National Liberation Front of Bodoland (NLFB) have surrendered with a huge cache of arms and ammunition in two days, officials said on Sunday.

Thirty-two insurgents of the outfit laid down their arms on Sunday, and 14 surrendered on the previous day, they said.

This was the second mass surrender of NLFB militants in less than a month. The outfit’s chief M Batha along with 22 other insurgents had laid down their arms at Lalpani in Udalguri district on July 22.

With the fresh surrenders, a total of 69 insurgents of the outfit have laid down their arms to date.

“A total of 46 NLFB militants have surrendered in Kokrajhar district in two days. They assembled at Jharbari forest range and police brought them to Kokajhar,” a senior officer told PTI.

Six AK-47 rifles, two carbines, self-loading rifles and .303 rifles each, one 9mm pistol, three hand grenades, and a large number of cartridges have been seized, he said.

NLFB platoon commander B Harfa was among the surrendered militants, another officer said.

After receiving the militants, he claimed that the remaining insurgents of the outfit will surrender in the next few days.

The group was floated after some disgruntled members of the erstwhile militant organisation National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) led by Batha returned to the forest. NLFB was mostly involved in extortion in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).

Since its formation a few months ago, one member of the outfit has been killed in a police encounter and 27 others have been arrested, an Assam Police source had said.

Batha, a former NDFB militant, was among the 1,615 insurgents of all NDFB factions who surrendered on January 30 last year after the signing of the third Bodo Peace Accord.

However, he was not satisfied with the implementation of the accord and went underground after the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections in December last year.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had on July 12 informed the assembly that 3,439 militants of various groups have surrendered since 2016, when the BJP came to power in the state.