Arms, ammunition seized from Shillong school

The recoveries were made late Saturday after Khasi Students' Union (KSU) activists found an abandoned suitcase containing explosive materials and incriminating documents of the Assam-based separatist group.

The suitcase was abandoned by five suspected ULFA militants after being chased by KSU activists for their suspicious movement near the school, a police official said. After finding the suitcase, the KSU activists alerted the police. More arms and ammunition were recovered from beneath the permanent stage of the school at Madan Laban in East Khasi Hills district.

"Two AK-47 rifles and a flash gun, 125 rounds of live ammunition, five kg of RDX bomb, three hand grenades, six magazines, two walkie talkies and incriminating documents belonging to the ULFA have seized," district police chief A.R. Mawthoh told IANS.

From the seized documents, Mawthoh said, it is evidently clear that the arms and ammunition were hidden as "reserve weapons" by the ULFA militants. The weapons have been hidden by Drishti Rajkhowa, the 'second lieutenant' of ULFA, he said.

On Sep 7, security forces recovered three foreign-made pistols with ammunition, 69 rounds of live medium machine gun (MMG) ammunition, a laptop, a solar plate, two wireless sets and documents belonging to ULFA's 109 battalion from their hideout at Danal Dasik in Meghalaya's East Garo Hills district.

Meghalaya, especially the Garo Hill region, is being used as a safe haven for various northeast-based militants groups, including the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) (NSCN-IM), the ULFA and the NDFB.