February 12, 2008	Tuesday	Safar 04 ,1429

NEW DELHI, Feb 11: ULFA rebels fighting Indian rule in the tea-rich state of Assam planned to hijack an Indian plane to Rawalpindi with the help of ISI operatives, Indian police officials said on Monday quoting one of three men arrested in the reported conspiracy.

Prominent human rights activist and ULFA-appointed negotiator Lachit Bardoloi and an employee of a private airline were held by the Assam police on Monday in connection with the plot by the United Liberation Front of Asom to hijack an aircraft from the international airport in Guwahati.

The arrests were made on the basis of confessions made by arrested ULFA cadre Manoj Tamuly, who was allegedly trained by Inter Services Intelligence operative, news reports said quoting police officials in Assam.

Mr Bardoloi, who was a member of the Peoples Consultative Group constituted by the ULFA to facilitate its direct talks with Government of India, was arrested by the police from Moran in upper Assam on Monday morning. The police seized his laptop computer.

They also picked up Suman Dutta, an employee of a private airline, from his Guwahati residence for alleged connections to the ULFA’s plane hijack conspiracy. The police said more arrests were likely in the case.

The police in connection with the same case had booked earlier, prominent lawyer Nekibur Zaman and TV journalist Pradip Gogoi. They claimed that the ULFA was conspiring to hijack a plane from Guwahati airport to Rawalpindi in Pakistan via Thimphu in Bhutan.

Arrested ULFA man Manoj Tamuly and others had received training in carrying out hijackings in the jungles of Baksa districts of Assam, adjacent to Bhutan border, reports said.

The said training was imparted by an ISI operative but gave no clue about what the alleged ISI operative had aimed to get out of the plot.