Dibrugarh, July 5: The Paresh Barua faction of Ulfa is offering cash incentives to lure teenagers to the outfit following an erosion of its cadre pool over the last few years.
Most of these new recruits are school dropouts.
Sijanto Moran, a fresh recruit, revealed this to his interrogators, after he was arrested by the army following Sunday morning’s encounter at Pengeri in Tinsukia district. One militant was killed in the encounter.
“The cash incentive, which is given right at the time of joining, ranges between Rs 1,000 and Rs 6,000. Moreover, the cadres are also promised monthly pay once they are trained and are fit for operations,” a source said.
Sijanto, 17, who was recruited only four days before he was apprehended, was given Rs 1,000 and promised a new mobile phone and clothes. He was also promised “sufficient pay” on completion of training. Sijanto hails from Raidang under Doomdooma police station in Tinsukia district.
“According to our information, a 15 to 25-member group has taken shelter in the area after coming from Myanmar around a month back to carry out recruitment. They have been moving around in areas like Bordumsa, Pengeri, Mahadevpur and Mohong along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border. The group is headed by Tibrajyoti Baruah and Mohim Gogoi,” a senior police official said.
Sources also revealed that the group has come to Assam with instructions from senior Ulfa leader Jibon Moran, who is a close aide of Paresh Barua, the outfit’s commander-in-chief.
“The group has already managed to recruit 16 youths from the Talpathar area, seven from Mohong and 13 from Tekeri. Some more youths were planning to join when the encounter took place,” the source said.
All the boys who have joined are mostly in the 15 to 20 age group and most of them are school dropouts.
The source also said the fresh recruits are also threatened by the senior cadres that they cannot nurse any second thoughts about leaving the outfit now that their names, addresses and other details have reached intelligence agencies and security forces.
