From Our Correspondent
TURA: Unconfirmed reports about the arrest in neighbouring Bangladesh of the ‘chairman’ belonging to the most dreaded militant group from Garo Hills has created a sensation in the Garo Hills but security agencies are keeping their fingers crossed as there has been no official intimation from the other side.
The chairman of the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) and former Meghalaya DSP Champion R Sangma is believed to have been picked up by Bangladesh police and members of the elite anti-terror force known as Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) sometime on Thursday morning from a locality in Haluaghat in Mymensing town.
Another storyline that is doing the rounds is of a conversation that took place between GNLA ‘commander-in-chief’ Sohan D Shira and a mysterious woman discussing Champion’s arrest which is believed to have been intercepted by intelligence agencies.
The lady confidante of the outfit’s army chief is said to have made a phone call seeing an unspecified amount of money to be arranged to get the GNLA ‘chairman’ released at the earliest from the custody of Bangladesh police.
The chief of the armed wing is also reported to have made a call to one of Champion’s close friends in Bangladesh to confirm the arrest report of the chairman.
In the meantime, security agencies including the BSF and Garo Hills police have refused to comment on the arrest story of the GNLA leader.
“A lot of rumors are flying thick and fast and until and unless we get an official confirmation from our counterparts across the border we cannot say much,” said a BSF official from Tura.
If the accounts of the arrest prove to be true it would be a major blow to the striking capabilities of the outfit and a boost to the security forces who till recently were fighting a tough battle against the elusive outfit.
It is also worth mentioning that there have been previous instances of reports about the arrest of the GNLA ‘chairman’ inside Bangladesh. Those reports, however, proved to be untrue.