TURA: Two suspected cadres of the United A’chik Liberation Army (UALA) were arrested from the heart of Tura on Wednesday afternoon while they were serving demand notes and planning to abduct a civilian.
Police units swooped down on the two UALA suspects who were loitering near the office of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) in Hawakhana and took them into custody. They were found to have in their possession UALA demand notes and have been identified as Selbith and Barnius.
They confessed to police that they were tasked with the job of serving demand notes and planning abductions of businessmen on the orders of UALA chairman Novembirth Marak alias Chiindik Marak who had been arrested from a nursing home in Guwahati on June 14 last.
The militant leader, who has since been out on bail has reportedly re-established links with his outfit and begun planning operations to extort money from traders and businessmen.
Police raided his home but failed to find him and it is strongly suspected that Novembirth may have once again jumped bail. He had previously also been a senior member of the GNLA during its nascent stages and had escaped with its funds before being arrested from Siliguri in West Bengal with a woman and lodged in jail under the Meghalaya Prevention Detention Act (MPDA).
“One of the arrested persons identified as Selbith is a close family relative of Novembirth. He had met Novembirth sometime ago and was indoctrinated into working for the outfit,” revealed West Garo Hills SP in-charge B A Sangma.
The other suspect, Barnius, was previously arrested from Tetengkol area of the town in connection with three criminal cases and was also out on bail.