Assam Director General of Police Khagen Sarma on Thursday confirmed the hands of anti-talk faction of Ulfa and NSCN (K) militants behind the Wednesday’s attack on Kakapathar police station in eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district and said that a joint group of these outfits have entered Assam to carryout subversive activities in the State.
“We have seen both the Ulfa faction involved in activities in the past. In yesterday’s incident also they were involved. The militants were planning something big but could not do so as the police were alert. The police at the Kakapathar police station retaliated immediately forcing them to escape,” the DGP said.
The DGP was participating in the 67th Assam Police Day, which was celebrated officially at the 4th Assam Police Battalion located in Guwahati’s Kahilipara area.
He also indicated that Assam Police might soon use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones for surveillance purpose. A Mumbai-based company, Idea Forge today gave a demonstration of Netra, an UAV developed in collaboration with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), at the Assam Police Day function at the 4th APBN.
“As you can see this is an UAV we are using for surveillance purpose today. We wanted to see the performance of the UAV here today. These kinds of UAV can be used for surveillance as well as in operations,” said the top cop.
“We wanted to see its coverage and resolution and all other performance indicators through this function today,” Sarma said indicating that the Assam police might use these UAVs for surveillance and operational purpose in the State.
The Netra is a flagship product of ideaForge and is a man-portable UAV, which can be launched from a small clearing by roadside and made to fly over the area of interest up to a height of 400 m and it will send continuous real time video of every movement of people on ground, vehicles or any movement without anybody knowing that they are being seen. The UAV itself can fly up to 4 km distance from the take-off point.
Assam police celebrated the 67th Assam Police Day on Thursday and the main intention of the celebrations is to bring police closer to the common people.
“We have been celebrating the Day for last so many years but the celebrations remained to the police only in the past. However, this time we have involved the common people in the function to bridge the gap between the police and common people,” said the DGP.