From Our Correspondent
TURA: East Garo Hills police broke up a gang of highway robbers who had been tormenting coal truck drivers with extortion by shooting dead two of the dacoits in a late night encounter on Friday.
A gang of highway robbers had been creating a nuisance in between Songsak and Dainadubi route of national highway 62 for the last many months waylaying coal trucks and attacking drivers who did not pay up to their extortion demand which ranged from a couple of hundred to several thousand rupees.
On Friday night the gang had stopped several dozen coal trucks that were ferrying coal from the coal fields of Nangalbibra towards Assam at a village called Tamsura, 15 kms from Dainadubi, when police were tipped off about their presence.
Armed police personnel from Dainadubi outpost rushed to the area and spotted a six member gang heavily engaged in collecting money from the truckers. When challenged the highway robbers opened fire from their country-made rifles that had been designed in the shape of AK-47 and SLR rifles.
The police returned fire killing two of the dacoits on the spot while the rest of the group abandoned their weapons and fled into the jungles on both sides of the road.
Police recovered the bodies of the two dacoits and also confiscated four country-made weapons shaped in the form of sophisticated factory made guns.
They also found three empty cases of shotgun ammunition and a khukri dagger with a bag.
The bodies which were sent for post mortem are yet to be identified.