Guwahati, Aug 13 - In what is seen as the first direct instance of separatists in Assam using kids to carry out extortions, two street urchins were caught by police commandos minutes after they collected the extortion amount from a businessman in Guwahati.

A police spokesperson said two eight-year-old children, Ganesh Das and Babu Chetri, were late Wednesday lured by militants of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) to collect an extortion amount from a businessman in the Ganeshguri area of Guwahati.

This is the first time militants in Assam were found to be using kids to carry out extortion in the city, a fact that has almost numbed the security machinery.

'This is an ingenious modus operandi of the militants to use children for rebel activities,' Additional Superintendent of Police (Special Task Force) Manabendra Debroy told IANS.

The two boys entered the shop and handed over a letter to the shopkeeper and as directed by the NDFB rebels, the money was given to the kids wrapped in a plastic packet.

'We were informed by the businessman that two NDFB militants, one wearing a red T-shirt, would come to collect the cash from the shop at 8.