TURA: Police teams from East and South Garo Hills are scouting the dense forests of the Durama Hills for possible hidden armaments of the banned GNLA following Wednesday’s recovery of detonators, explosives and live ammunition from one of the outfit’s jungle camps.
Police SWAT teams during a search of an abandoned GNLA camp area in Adugre village, across the Simsang river, unearthed the concealed explosives which comprised of explosive gelatine sticks and detonators as well as 170 live rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition.
Letter pads meant for the outfit’s general secretary, vice-chairman and deputy army chief were also recovered from the site.
Following the intense operations launched by Meghalaya police as part of the ongoing operation called ‘Hill Storm’ for the last one and a half years several camps of the GNLA had been destroyed and militants ‘neutralized’.
The biggest blow for the outfit was the police attack on their general headquarters inside Durama Hills which has reportedly compelled GNLA chief Sohan D Shira to shift base.
Police strongly suspect that the GNLA has concealed a large number of its explosives and other weaponry in jungle hideouts of Durama Hills in their hurry to escape the police onslaught.
Meanwhile, the western commander of another Garo outfit, ASAK, narrowly escaped a police raid on his hideout at Dikkimpara village of Gambegre in West Garo Hills, close to the border with South West Garo Hills district.
The five member ASAK group headed by its western commander called Harara was spotted by a police team at 4:30 in the afternoon and this led to a gun battle from both sides.
The militants escaped leaving behind a 3 kg IED bomb behind which was later recovered by police along with six detonator caps and a wireless handset.
The ASAK commander has been identified by police as the man responsible for the kidnapping of civilians, villagers and petty traders.
Most of the incidents in which traders have been waylaid and abducted while returning from weekly markets in the Gambegre-Purakhasia-Kherapara-Barengapara region have been carried out by Harara and his cadres from ASAK.
