TURA: Armed gunmen suspected to belong to the ASAK waylaid a passenger bus bound for Purakhasia and abducted its driver and two co-workers from a remote village on Monday afternoon.
The passenger bus, which had thirty passengers, had left Tura Dobasipara bus stand at 1:30pm en-route to the Purakhasia border village.
Shortly after it crossed Saka Boldamgre village under Gambegre block four armed men stopped the bus at a secluded spot and took away its driver Mikil Talukdar, conductor Karmeet Koch and handyman Hojay Koch into the forests.
The area where the kidnapping occurred falls in the South West Garo Hills district jurisdiction.
The frightened bus passengers who were left to fend for themselves walked for several kilometres before being able to contact their family members and seek alternative transportation.
District SP Ramesh Singh, while speaking from Ampati informed The Shillong Times that prima facie evidence points to the involvement of the ASAK outfit headed by Reding T Sangma. He also said that operations were being conducted from both the West and South West districts to nab the culprits and rescue the victims.
Meanwhile, the Garo Hills Motor Workers’ Union has condemned the abduction of its members and urged for their immediate release without any preconditions.
The union added that abductions of its workers and members was having a negative impact and would hamper the transport services which would hit the common people the most.
