TURA: Meghalaya police believe they are closing in on the elusive GNLA chief Sohan D Shira who is reportedly hiding somewhere in the dense forests of Rewak, close to the Balpakram national park, in South Garo Hills district.
Following Sunday’s surrender by three senior GNLA cadres from the Chokpot command of the outfit before Baghmara police and the obtaining of ‘crucial’ human intelligence about the whereabouts of the GNLA commander-in-chief, Meghalaya police have deployed their recently trained commandos from the Special Force-Ten (SF-10) for the first time inside the forests of Garo Hills with the prime target of getting Sohan D Shira.
Several units of SF-10 commandos together with the time tested SWAT personnel, who have already experienced battle with several success stories against Garo militants, are scouring the Rewak-Siju forests for the GNLA group led by Sohan who is believed to number between 25-30 hardcore ultras including action commander Jimmy and Baichung Momin and deputy commander-in-chief Rupanto Marak (Toding).
The presence of Sohan Shira inside Garo Hills has clearly revealed that earlier claim of him fleeing into Bangladesh and being subsequently arrested in that country was a hoax.
He was also rumoured to have taken shelter in neighbouring West Khasi Hills region following the attack on his general camp by Meghalaya police over two months ago.
The last remnants of the Chokpot command of GNLA gave themselves up to authorities on Sunday and thereby ending the militancy presence in the Chokpot region, once a hotbed for the outfit’s armed struggle which witnessed many innocent lives being lost including a mother of four little children, Josbina Sangma, who was executed in cold blood by GNLA militants on June 4, 2014.
GNLA militants Thonang Ch Marak alias Ranggan (21) of Rongpakgre village in South Garo Hills, Panpan N Sangma alias Jaku (24) of Ashokgre also in South Garo Hills and Nitush B Sangma alias Jakpa (24) of Nidhanpur (Phulbari)in West Garo Hills gave themselves up to police at Baghmara and submitted an AK-56 rifle, an SLR rifle, two pistols, a hand grenade and seven detonators and a large quantity of ammunition.
Church elders and NGOs had helped facilitate their surrender.
