Ulfa-Huji bid to hijack plane foiled

HIJACK BID: Police have arrested an Air Deccan employee and peace-broker Lachit Bordoloi.

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Keywords: PCG, Lachit Bordoloi, Hijack, ULFA

Guwahati: Two days after the Assam police claimed to have foiled a plan to hijack planes flying out of Guwahati's Lokopriyo Gopinath International Airport at Guwahati, they arrested human rights activist and United Liberation Front of Assam sympathiser Lachit Bordoloi on Monday.

The police arrested Bordoloi on the basis of a confession by Manoj Tamuly, who was allegedly trained by Afghan militants to hijack planes.

Bordoloi was also a member of the People's Consultative Group that negotiated for Ulfa with the Centre. Police have seized a laptop and two CDs from Bordoloi's house in Guwahati.

“Whatever he has said, it has to be corroborated along with other evidence and then we will come to know the depth of the design,” said government spokesperson Himanto Bishwasharma.

Tamuly had confessed before media that the plan was to hijack the plane to Thimpu and from there, a new set of ULFA men would take the aircraft to Rawalpindi.

ULFA, however, denied this and claimed this was a disinformation campaign to scuttle the political process in Assam.

The police also arrested an Air Deccan employee, Sumon Dutta, who they claimed was helping Ulfa militants along with Bordoloi.

In the past, there have been inputs from CISF, which raised suspicions about Dutta, sources said.

Earlier, on Monday morning, the police had arrested a journalist, Pradip Gogoi, and a lawyer on similar charges.

“The allegations as far as these two persons are concerned, as the forwarding report goes, they are only assisting the ulfa in various forms. What are the specific allegations it is not there in the forwarding report itself,” explained High Court lawyer, Bijan Mahajan, who has fought cases for the Ulfa.

Sources in the police claim the plan to hijack planes was hatched by Ulfa and the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami. They added that the militants wanted to free some Huji and Ulfa militants lodged in jail.

Meanwhile, the PCG has vehemently condemned Bordoloi’s arrest saying it was an attempt to gag the freedom of citizens.

"Of late, there has been an endeavour from various quarters including the PCG to bring the ULFA to the negotiating table and the latest step of the government suggests it is not interested in the peace process," said PCG spokesman Arup Borbora.