A seven-member team of proscribed ULFA led by deputy commander-in-chief Drishti Rajkhowa, who recently surrendered before police, was trained in explosives in Pakistan, said security officials.
Drishti and the other members of the team underwent the training at a location in Peshawar on the Afghanistan border in 2005.
“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,” The Assam Tribune quoted security officials as saying.
As per reports, the surrendered ULFA (I) leader had revealed this to police during interrogation.
Of the seven-member group, two were reportedly from a Tripura based insurgent group.
According to reports, at least four batches of the ULFA were trained in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
50-year-old Drishti, a resident of Rangjuli in Goalpara, had surrendered before South West Garo Hills police in Meghalaya 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.
25-five-year old Mitun alias Rongila is a resident of Gajni in Sherpur district of the neighbouring country.
He is one of the close associates of Drishti Rajkhowa.