Staff Correspondent
Shillong, January 17: The proscribed Garo tiol Liberation Army (GNLA) has recently added the sophisticated Remote Controlled Improve Explosive device (RCIED) into its armory. The GNLA’s latest addition of explosive gadgets into its fold has prompted the security agencies to multiply its vigilance in areas prone to militant activities besides augmenting the security apparatus on the VVIPs in the five districts of Garo Hills.
A well place source said the procurement of RCIED is likely from the ULFA. “We have not only stumbled upon the information but it was confirmed by the arrested militants in course of the interrogation recently,” stated the source. Although the use of IEDs by the GNLA is not new to the police, it is the easy way of detoting the IEDs by pressing a button on any place it is planted that made the police concerned.
“Unlike the earlier IEDs used by the GNLA where the wires are attached to the explosives and detoted by militants from within the vicinity, now they can use the remote control from a distance,” stated a source.
Following the information, the movement of the Chief Minister’s convoy in Garo Hills has been affixed with a newly acquired jammer vehicle to deter any possible attacks by using the RCIED. The ‘jammer vehicle’ deactivates all sorts’ of frequency on its way, thus ensure the security of the people under its coverage zone. The official termed the RCIEDs as a new challenge to counter–insurgency operations in Garo Hills, but doubted the GNLA’s ability to fully use the capability of the device. “Some of them have been trained to use the RCIED but it also requires the knowledge of basic science,” the official said while citing the educatiol qualifications of most of the GNLA cadres. Going by the profile of arrested and surrendered cadres, there were hardly who have completed matriculation.