Agartala: Following the footsteps of the outlawed All Tripura Tribal Force (ATTF), the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) has recently changed its name to 'plungers and rangers' to avoid police action, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Inspector General (IG), Tripura, Sukhjinder Singh said on June 5.

''We have definite information that both the two banned insurgent outfits - ATTF and NLFT -- have changed their names,'' Singh said.

The ATTF, the armed wing of the Tripura People's Democratic Front (TPDF), in a press statement recently stated that it had changed it's name to Revolutionary People's Army (RPA) in the three-day biennial conference of council of representatives of TPDF which began on March 29, 2003.

To a question, the IG said the NLFT had changed its name recently.

He said the two outfits had changed their names to take some legal advantages because both were banned organisations.

He said the NLFT had recently recruited 200 youths and 50 girls. Similarly the ATTF had recruited many girls.

PTI