TURA: One of the ring leaders of the Liberation of Achik Elite Force (LAEF) militant outfit that brazenly opened fire at Gokolgre market on the national highway connecting Tura with Paikan has been arrested from a hideout in North Garo Hills district on Monday morning.
LAEF militant Hamid B Marak was nabbed from his home village of Korepara, under Bajengdoba police station, during a dawn raid conducted by North Garo Hills police.
Police swooped down on a house where Hamid was at around 5 am and took him into custody. He had gone to meet his wife in the village and was staying in the house with her for the past five days when security forces caught up with him. He was operating under LAEF commander Sodom alias Job, hailing from Medu Apal village, who is believed to have orchestrated the attack on Gokolgre market, near Mendal, last month along with several other militants. One of the LAEF militants who took part in the attack at Gokolgre has been identified as Ramod alias Kenjing.
Arrested militant Hamid has confessed to police that the outfit has as many as eight AK rifles in their possession.
On August 10, over half a dozen heavily armed militants swooped down on Gokolgre market located on the side of National Highway 51 road opened fire in the air to scare away the villagers. They then looted the traders of their day’s earnings and also took away a large quantity of pre-paid recharge vouchers for cell phones.
