Former UALA militant behind kidnapping of 7 traders
TURA: One of the seven abducted Assam traders who were taken hostage by armed Garo criminals while returning from a weekly market in Kharkutta region of North Garo Hills has managed to give his kidnappers the slip and escape to freedom after police from neighbouring East Garo Hills district raided the hideout of the gang in Gabil Ading village on Tuesday.
Trader Tustu Mohan Paul (50) of Daranggre Darapara village in Goalpara, Assam, took the opportunity to make a run after a SWAT team from East Garo Hills raided the village where the gang was keeping their seven victims.
As the police team advanced on their hideout a sentry from the gang spotted the arrival of the security forces and raised the alarm forcing the criminals to hurriedly rush out with their captives.
During the melee, the fifty year old trader broke away from the gang and darted in the opposite direction running down a hilltop and sustaining a head injury. Despite his injury Paul did not stop and continued running through the forests ultimately succeeding in reaching a police camp at Rongmil.
Police have identified the group behind the abduction as a group of criminals headed by a former UALA militant identified as Rex Miller R Sangma. Based on the inputs provided by the escaped trader, police are aware that the group comprises of five persons having in their possession one AK rifle, a SBBL shot gun and a pistol.
The leader of the group, Rex Miller, is a wanted man with a history of criminal cases against him. He was part of the UALA outfit of Norrok X Momin and provided arms for the organization before his arrest from Kharkutta on June 18, 2014.
Another UALA militant, Grikseng Sangma, arrested from his home in Araimile, Tura provided police with the information about the whereabouts of the arms supplier Rex Miller.
He was sent on a five day police remand by the court but succeeded in getting himself admitted to Tura Civil Hospital feigning sickness from diarrhoea.
He broke out of the hospital at 4 AM of June 23 by climbing out from the air ventilator of his toilet despite the presence of seven police constables who were tasked with ensuring he did not escape.
All seven constables were later placed on suspension but the wanted criminal melted away from the radar of the police for most part of the last two years until the recent incident.
On Friday last, the armed men waylaid a group of Assam traders returning from a Garo weekly market at Dokhongsi in Kharkutta region. They forcibly took away Tustu Paul, Manoranjan Sarkar, Putul Mukherji,
Piyush Biswas, Pradip Das, Bijoy Sarkar and Ganesh Basu. Barring Tustu Paul, the remaining six traders continue to remain in the custody of the criminals.