A joint team of police and the army shot dead a sergeant major Madan Koch of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom at Kathalbari in West Garo Hills of Meghalaya on Sunday.

Police informed that the slain ULFA militant was involved in ferrying arms and ammunition from Bangladesh to Assam through the notorious arms smuggling corridor in Garo hills areas bordering Bangladesh.

Koch, police said, was the operational head of the separatist group's 109th battalion. His killing has been termed a major blow to the banned militant group.

Police recovered a 9 mm pistol, two magazines, one hand grenade, a wireless set, two mobile sets and 8.6 kg of RDX from the possession of the killed militant.

Several north-east based militant groups including the banned ULFA, Black Widow or Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel Garlosa) and the Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front have been using Meghalaya as a corridor to sneak in arms from Bangladesh and Myanmar.

A large group of Black Widow militants including one of its top leaders were arrested in Shillong by the police and the army while they were trying to hammer out an arms deal in the Meghalaya capital.

The commander of the 27th battalion of the ULFA Pallab Saikia was arrested by police early in 2007 while he was travelling from Shillong to Assam with a huge quantity of arms and ammunition.