Kolkata, May 9 (IANS): A terrorist associated with the banned Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police from Kharibari area at the India-Nepal border near Siliguri in the state's Darjeeling district early on Monday police said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police, STF, Sudip Bhattacharya identified the arrested terrorist as Dhankumar Burman, 26, a resident of Bakshirhat of Cooch Behar district in north Bengal.

"We have also recovered some documents including some of his exchanges of coded messages with KLO chief Jeevan Singh. Burman, also known as Swapan, is an KLO activist. He was trying to flee to Nepal via Siliguri. However, we got the information in time and arrested him," he said.

According to STF sources, till the recent past, Burman had been hiding in the jungles in the Simulbari area in Assam. STF sleuths doubt that he was trying to flee to Nepal with the dual purpose of making new recruitments for the KLO as well as to collect funds for the banned outfit.

It is learnt that Burman joined KLO in 2020. His father, Sukumar Burman was also associated with KLO and was arrested. But after serving imprisonment for a few years, Sukumar Burman snapped his links with the banned outfit. The arrested terrorist's elder brothers are serving in the Indian Army.

He was presented at the district court in Siliguri, which sent him to police custody.

Assam Police, last month, arrested three suspected KLO linkmen from Dhubri district. Earlier in February this year, the STF sleuths of West Bengal Police arrested two other KLO linkmen, namely Abinash Roy and Mrinal Burman, also from Siliguri. From them, STF came to know about Dhankumar Burman.