GUWAHATI: Evidence collected by the Army during raids on the camps of the Bodo Security Force has established the link between the Bodo outfit and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN).
Army officers conducting the operation said that three camps along the Indo- Bhutan border had been raided in recent weeks. One of these was a training camp. Another camp was functioning as the regional headquarters of the outfit.
All the camps were situated in thick jungles where visibility was reduced to 10 feet. This affected the scope of Army operations and air surveillance too was not possible. Weapons seized from these camps revealed that the outfit possessed – sophisticated small arms such as self-loading rifles, AK47s and carbines besides light machine guns and two-inch mortars.
During interrogation, some of the Boxto subversives admitted that their cadres were often trained by the NSCN At their camps in Myanmar. The weapons were purchased in the international market and smuggled in. Some of the weapons had also been snatched from security forces.
According to Lieutenant General Baldev Singh, one of the seized documents is a ledger book where all the collections by way of taxes and extortions have been recorded. He, however, claimed that after sustained Army operations during the past seven months, the situation is much better in Bodo-dominated districts in the north bank of the Brahmaputra river.
Tea gardens are no longer subjected to regular extortions and the common people have stopped paying taxes, he said and added that if the financial tap could be tightened, it would be difficult for the outfit to procure sophisticated arms.
One of the seized documents show that the Bodo subversives had been told not to stay in one camp for more than a night.
LL Gen Singh said that about 250 hard core Bodo militants were still active. As many as 93 militants and their sympathizers have been apprehended by the Army.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 7, 1995
