ULFA leader detained in Myanmar alongwith Indian scribes

A top United Liberation Front of Asom leader along with an Indian journalist and a photographer was detained in Myanmar but the two mediapersons were later released.

Home Secretary R K Singh said on Sunday that Jivan Moran, second-in-command of the hardline faction of the ULFA led by Paresh Baruah, had been detained in Myanmar.

Ministry sources said that journalist Rajib Bhattacharya and photographer Pradip Gogoi, who were detained by Mayanmarese army along with Moran, were released after their mobile phone and camera were confiscated.

However, there was no information on whether Moran was still in detention, they said. Bhattacharya and Gogoi work for a local newspaper in Guwahati and had left in mid-October for Myanmar apparently to interview Baruah, ULFA's self-styled commander-in-chief.

The trio were reportedly detained in the eastern part of Myanmar bordering China. It is immediately not known when and under what circumstances they were detained.

After their detention, the Myanmarese authorities gave the information to the Indian government, the sources said. They said the two would be crossing into India soon.

Earlier, the Home Secretary said that there was no information about the detention of Baruah as reported in certain media reports.

"We have information that Jivan Moran and an Indian journalist were detained in Myanmar. But we have no information about the detention of Paresh Baruah," he said.

Baruah reportedly has bases in Myanmar and visits China frequently.