Shillong, Sept. 17: Ulfa had stockpiled a huge quantity of ammunition in its hideout in the Songsak jungles of East Garo Hills, according to a list of seized weapons drawn up after an encounter between police and the outfit in the district last week.

On September 7, Meghalaya police recovered three foreign-made pistols with ammunition, 69 rounds of live medium machine gun (MMG) ammunition stored in a box, a laptop, a solar plate, two wireless sets and documents belonging to Ulfa cadres after an operation against the militants holed up at Danal Dasik in the Songsak area in East Garo Hills. (See chart)

The police said there were around six militants belonging to Ulfa’s 109 battalion in the hideout in Songsak, who escaped leaving behind the ammunition following counter-insurgency operations.

A senior police official said last week they still did not know why Ulfa had stockpiled such a cache of ammunition in East Garo Hills. But they suspect that since the district shares its boundary with Assam, these arms could have made their way to the neighbouring state via Garo hills to be used at an appropriate time.

The police said Ulfa’s 109 battalion is quite active in Garo hills which is being used by the outfit as a corridor to ferry arms and ammunition to Assam. The militants cross over to South and West Garo Hills from Bangladesh.

The police also fear that the militant groups active in Garo hills like the Garo National Liberation Army and Liberation of Achik Elite Force which have links with Ulfa, can use the weapons in Meghalaya to create law and order problems.

“We are concerned about the stockpile but committed to check the trend as these arms may be used against soft targets in Assam,” the police official added.