Agartala, Feb. 24: Unemployment led him to a militant camp, love lured him to a trap laid by security forces.

United National Liberation Front (UNLF) militant Marien Thang Jiten Singh, alias Ignou, walked straight into a BSF trap in Bagaicherri area of Kamalpur subdivision on February 20.

Having failed to land a job even after two years of struggle, Jiten, persuaded by his friend Sudarshan Singh, joined the UNLF in August 2003. On February 18 this year, Jiten fled from the UNLF headquarters in Dhaka with Rs 15 lakh in Indian currency, along with his friend Toiba Singh, to meet his beloved in Nainital, but was trapped by the BSF two days later.

Now in police custody, Jiten has proved to be prize catch for the BSF personnel, who have squeezed out valuable information about the militant outfit from him.

In the course of interrogation, Jiten said he and his fugitive friend Toiba had been staying in the UNLF headquarters on the fourth floor of a five-storeyed building in Mohammedpur area of Dhaka.

?I was in touch with my beloved through my mobile and decided to meet and marry her at Nainital. So I fled with Rs 15 lakh from the UNLF fund with Toiba.?

Soon UNLF bosses set three armed rebels after them.

Pursued by the UNLF trio, Jiten and Toiba reached Niralapunji area of Bangladesh opposite Kamalpur subdivision and sneaked into Bagaicherri on the Indian side of the border. The BSF (37 battalion), having got a wind of the matter, laid a trap which led to Jiten?s arrest. The three pursuers were killed in an early morning encounter.

According to his confessions, the UNLF headquarters in Dhaka is managed by 12 leaders, though the group?s chairman is S. Rajkumar; the outfit has a total membership strength of 3,000 and an arsenal of 2,500 firearms, including AK-series rifles. ?We are sure that given a chance to lead normal life, Jiten will never return to insurgency,? a source said. A Manipur police team will arrive soon to take him to Imphal.