GUWAHATI, Nov 20 - An ULFA group was trained in explosives in Pakistan, the outfit�s deputy commander-in-chief Drishti Rajkhowa who surrendered recently told interrogators from security agencies.
It was a seven-member group of which Drishti alias Manoj Rabha was a part.
While Drishti claimed that they underwent the training at a location in Peshawar on the Afghanistan border in 2005, the year is disputed by security agencies and experts.
�Pakistani agencies had arranged fake passports for the seven-member group. Drishti�s passport bore the name of an unidentified Khasi resident of Shillong. The training was for two months. They were trained in RPG and IEDs,� security sources said quoting Drishti as telling the interrogators.
Of the seven-member group, two were from Tripura and part of a Tripura-based outfit, the ULFA leader said.
Meanwhile, sources said that at least four batches of the ULFA were trained in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Fifty-year-old Drishti, a resident of Rangjuli in Goalpara, had surrendered along with four other cadres.
He was also a member of the ULFA batch which had undergone the longest training in Myanmar � for seven months � after he joined the outfit in 1988. Among the four other cadres, only Rahul Hazarika alias Laden Asom of Moran is a trained cadre.
Interestingly, one of the cadres who surrendered, Mitun Asom, is a resident of Bangladesh.
Twenty-five-year old Mitun alias Rongila is a resident of Gajni in Sherpur district of the neighbouring country.
�His joining the group is interesting. Drishti�s groups used to shuttle between Meghalaya and Bangladesh and used to camp in the bordering areas of Sherpur. In 2012, this village boy � who was then 17 � came in contact with the group. For a couple of years, he used to help the group with logistics like arranging ration and other stuff,� the sources said, adding that he was like �an overground worker�.
In 2015, Bangladesh security agencies came to know about the boy and his activities. Soon, he came in the list of those wanted by Bangladesh agencies.
�He then formally joined the ULFA and was with the group since then to evade the Bangladesh agencies. In fact, among the four cadres, this Bangladeshi boy is the closest to Drishti and is his close confidant,� the sources said.
This boy now does not want to return to Bangladesh. However, he is likely to be deported.
