TURA: Suspected Garo militants have abducted seven traders of Assam while returning from a weekly market in Kharkutta region of North Garo Hills on Friday afternoon.
A large group of merchants from Doranggre town of Assam had gone to Dokongsi market of Kharkutta to sell their goods during the weekly market day.
After completion of the market day the group was heading back to Assam when they were stopped by armed men at a secluded spot between Rongcheri and Kalawe.
Three of the kidnappers are reported to have carried weapons and they had their faces covered, informed district police chief Ramesh Singh.
While three traders were let off, seven others were taken away on foot by the armed men.
The lucky trio reported the incident to North Garo Hills police only on Saturday.
“We have received some crucial inputs about the group involved and identified one of the key persons,” informed SP Ramesh Singh adding that police operations were currently underway to try and rescue the victims.
The abducted 7 traders hailing from Doranggri, Assam have been identified as Tustu Paul,Manoranjan Sarkar, Putul Mukherji, Piyush Biswas, Pradip Das, Bijoy Sarkar and Ganesh Basu.