The arrest of a Bodoland militant in Kozhikode on Tuesday, and the earlier nabbing of alleged Maoist leaders have led to increased suspicion that extremist outfits are seeking cover among the nearly three-million-strong migrant-labour population in the State.

Lidion Basumatari alias Dimga, who is said to be the Assam State organising secretary of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit faction), was captured by the intelligence wing of the Kerala Police in the suburbs of Kozhikode on Tuesday.

Worked as labourer

Digma, 34, had fled Assam in the wake of an encounter with the military and had landed in Kozhikode in October.

He had been working as a head-load worker, moving cement bags from trucks to go-downs, along with Assamese and other migrant workers from the north-east.

The Kerala Police, who nabbed him on a tip-off, have verified his identity with the Assam Police. He has now been charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

NIA in the loop

Additional Director-General of Police N Shanker Reddy told BusinessLine that since there were no cases pending against Digma in Kerala, he would be handed over to the Assam Police. The National Investigation Agency is also being kept in the loop as Digma is a member of a terrorist group.

The NDFB is a banned organisation that has been fighting for a sovereign Bodoland in Indian territories north of the Brahmaputra. Digma is alleged to be the commander of a ‘battalion’ of the NDFB.

A camouflaged life

Senior police officers in Kerala are concerned that members of extremist organisations and criminals from Eastern and North-eastern States are coming over to Kerala to lead a camouflaged life among migrant labourers, who do not much mix much with the local population, mainly because of the language barrier. Reddy pointed out that even criminal gangs from the north-eastern States also make use of the migrant labourers as cover-up.

For instance, last month’s high-value robbery of an NRI’s home near Thrissur was committed by a Nepali gang. The local people could not differentiate between Nepalis and the people from India’s north-east.

In the recent past, members of extremist groups in other States and some alleged Maoists too were nabbed in Kerala. However, Reddy noted that the huge majority of the migrants were genuine workers who were here to make a living by working hard for a short period. The extremists and criminals were exploiting these poor people, he said.

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