Huge cache of arms, ammunition seized near India-Bhutan border

Huge cache of arms and ammunition were recovered from the forest areas near the India-Bhutan border in Assam's Kokrajhar district on Sunday, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, an operation was launched in the afternoon in Katlibil forest in Saraibil border outpost area and Belguri forest in Sefanguri police station area of the district, Kokrajhar's Superintendent of Police Rakesh Roushan said.

A medium machine gun with a chain, five AK-56 rifles with four magazines and 244 cartridges, and an INSAS rifle with 23 cartridges were among those recovered, he said.

Besides, three 9 mm pistols with five magazines and six cartridges, a .22 Chinese gun with two magazines and five cartridges, and a hand grenade were also seized, he added.

Police have stepped up search operations in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) over the past one month, and huge quantities of arms and ammunition have been seized from various parts of the four districts.

Elections to the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), scheduled to have been held on April 4, have been kept in abeyance until further orders due to the Covid-19 pandemic.