The United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) has clarified that the individuals who have been apprehended across the state as suspected linkmen of the militant outfit are in no way connected or involved with the organization.

A press statement was issued by the ULFA-I on Thursday in which the outfit mentioned that the men that the Assam Police nabbed from different locations of the state as suspects for their involvement in the grenade blasts recently are not linked with the outfit.

The press statement read, “On November 22, December 9 and 14, the ULFA-I had launched several armed operations in Kakopathar, Sivasagar and Jorhat. As suspects of initiating these attacks, the Assam Police have been picking up several innocent men since December 16, 2023, from Guwahati and various other parts of the state. We would like to clarify that these people who have been nabbed are neither associates nor in any way involved in the operations conducted by the ULFA-I.”

The outfit further stated that the Assam Police have been arresting innocent individuals for their ‘self-satisfaction’ and it is just an attempt to conceal their failure.  

Notably, on December 19, four suspected linkmen of the ULFA-I were apprehended from Amguri in Assam’s Sivasagar district. The apprehended individuals were John Basumatary, Jatin Boro, Gopi Hazowary, and Shiva Hembram. On the same day, three persons were arrested from Guwahati's Maligaon area. The arrested persons are Asim Adhikari, Mithun Debnath, and Rupjyoti Das.

It may be mentioned that these arrests came after the police launched search operations to nab individuals behind grenade attacks in different parts of the state which the ULFA-I had earlier claimed responsibility for.