TURA, April 17 - In a major development, six cadres of Liberation of Achik Elite Force (LAEF) surrendered before the police at Dainadubi police outpost in North Garo Hills. The surrender comes quick on the heels of the killing of the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of one faction of the outfit and includes the leader of the breakaway faction, Mathew G Momin and another notorious addition in the form of Ravan Basumatary.
The surrender ceremony took place in the presence of SP of North Garo Hills (NGH) Dr Raghavendra Kumar. �Relentless pressures were being made on the insurgents by security forces including the army. The Church as well as NGOs were also active to bring about the surrender�, said a release by the police.
The cadres also surrendered one AK, one shotgun, two pistols, demand letters and ammunition.
The surrendered cadres will for now be accommodated in the Mendipathar PS before being shifted to the rehabilitation centre in Jengjal in West Garo Hills.
On Wednesday, LAEF�s commander-in-chief Augustine Marak was killed in an encounter at Chichra village near Ronjeng in East Garo Hills.
Augustine and Mathew led two different factions of the LAEF with Augustine breaking away from the main faction led by Mathew, a few months back. The outfit was formed in 2005 by former Meghalaya police constable Peter Marak and Sohan D Shira, now commander of the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA).
Several cadres have been killed in intensified police operations in East and North Garo Hills. �We are trying to reach to the remaining LAEF cadres to surrender,� said GHP Raju, IGP of Operations.
�We will continue Operation Hillstorm 3 to ensure that law is enforced. At the same time police are open to surrender of any militants with or without arms�, he said. Raju stated that several GNLA cadres have expressed their willingness to surrender.
