TURA: Two locals who have allegedly been giving assistance to Bangladeshi criminals to commit cross border crime in the Garo Hills region have been arrested by South Garo Hills Police on Friday night.
Baghmara Police picked up Rajip Sangma (25) of Bilkona village in Dumnikura area and Md. Najim Khan (36) of Ramchenga village in Kapasipara area of the border district for their alleged involvement in a spate of kidnappings which had recently rocked the area.
Police sources reveal that the two locals were key members of the cross border gang and played a crucial role in identifying the targets and preparing the route for the gang to cross over and commit the crime.
The cross border gang was responsible for the abduction of an engineer of the NBCC construction company engaged in flood lighting of the border. Engineer AK Srivastava was kidnapped from Rongara border village by the gang on November 22 and taken across the international border which prevented Garo Hills Police from taking up any rescue operation. He was subsequently released and sent back to India on December 4 after the gang reportedly received huge ransom money.
Less than a week later, the same gang raided Dambuk Aga village of Rongara and kidnapped a florist from Bengal who was engaged in trade in South Garo Hills. The florist, Ranjit Modak, was also taken across the border and released on December 13 after ransom was paid to the kidnappers by the family of the victim.The gang scaled down their operation after South Garo Hills Police went all out to ‘neutralize’ the group and shot dead one of the criminals when they had crossed over into Garo Hills to collect ransom money. The latest arrests are expected to further weaken the group which had spread fear all along the international border route in the remote South Garo Hills District.BSF troops nab eight B’deshi kidnappers
BSF troops deployed at Gasuapara apprehended eight Bangladeshi kidnappers while they were infiltrating into Indian territory on Wednesday.The arrests were made following an 18-hour-long night operation involving over 100 BSF personnel. The apprehended Bangladeshi kidnappers have been identified as Ashraf Md (19), Abu Hanifa (18) Md Abul Hossain (15), Rafiqul (20), Abdul Rahim (30), Suruj Miya (25), Md Sadiqul (25) and Nazmul Hasen (25).One 7.65 mm pistol with magazine, one round, a Khukri (knife) and mobile phones were recovered from the possession of the kidnappers.Meanwhile, BSF troops also apprehended two Indian and five Bangladeshi smugglers and seized contraband items worth Rs.18 lakh from their possession.