Official sources said the five travelling in a SUV were apprehended after the vehicle was intercepted at Jatinga town on the Silchar-Haflong road in the early hours.
Seven detonators, eight gelatin sticks and five mobile handsets were recovered from them.
Another occupant, however, managed to escape.
One of the captured persons is a member of the Meghalaya-based insurgent group Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), while the others are gun-runners.
Security forces suspect that the explosives were being transported for disrupting the New Year celebrations.
