Tripura: 3 NLFT rebels held days after extortion notice surfaces

Agartala: Tripura police have arrested three people connected with the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) from Amarpur under Gomati district of Tripura.

On October 22, notices from the banned militant group surfaced in parts of the state including Vanghmun, a village in Jamui Hills in North Tripura that shares its border with Mizoram.

The NLFT was formed in 1989 with the agenda of a sovereign Tripura under Dhananjoy Reang as its self-styled chairman. While most of NLFT have either surrendered or been neutralised, a few hundred insurgents are still active across the Indo-Bangla international border.

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Speaking with reporters, officer-in-charge of Birganj police station Subrata Barman said extortion notices were served at a local market, following which a written complaint was filed at the police station.

“Similar notices circulated in Chelagang, Mogoara and Doluma villages under Amarpur sub-division in October. Based on a tip-off, we conducted a raid at Lakri Dukan area, which is around 15 km away from here, we arrested Amrit Jamatia, and recovered a mobile phone that he used for communication with recipients”, Barman said.

After interrogation, the police also arrested two facilitators who helped Amrit in distributing the extortion notices around the village. They were identified as Nitai Hari Jamatia, 32 and Mangal Mangal Kishore Jamatia, 30 from Dalak village under Amarpur sub-division.

All three of them have been forwarded to the local court for seeking five days of police remand.

Meanwhile, sources from the police have informed that recently, activities of the banned NLFT has revived along the international border.

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The NLFT was banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in 1997 and has been involved in violence, operating from their camps across the international border.

NLFT has been responsible for violent activities including 317 insurgency incidents in which 28 security forces and 62 civilians lost their lives during the period 2005-2015. Peace talks with NLFT were initiated in 2015 and there has been no violence from the NLFT since 2016.

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