On the basis of a confessional statement made by a cadre of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Guwahati Police on February 5th, 2020 averted an attempt by the rebel group to trigger major explosions after it recovered two Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from two different busy spots in the city.
The IEDs have been recovered from Pan Bazar and Paltan Bazar areas at around 10:30 pm. This comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kokrajhar district on February 7th, 2020.
Speaking to reporters, Guwahati Police Commissioner Munna Prasad Gupta said, “The police recovered the IEDs on the basis of a statement made by ULFA militant Raktim Gogoi during interrogations. Accordingly, we launched a mission and recovered the IEDs.”
Gogoi was arrested from Tinsukia district on February 6th, 2020. The IEDs were packed in bags.
“The IEDs were planted on February 1st, 2020. Raktim will be brought to Guwahati. We are maintaining strict watch on the nefarious activities of militants and anti-social elements,” he added.
It may be mentioned, as many as four low-intensity blasts carried out using IEDs rocked parts of upper Assam on January 26th, 2020 within a span of 30 minutes as India marked its 71st Republic Day.
Two blasts in Dibrugarh and one each on Duliajan and Sonari were reported. There was no damage to property and no human injury or casualty. The outlawed ULFA-I later claimed the responsibility of the blasts.
Photo: @smitaranideka
