SHILLONG: Police are focusing on those areas of East Khasi Hills which are in close proximity to the porous Indo-Bangladesh border to ensure that the banned militant outfit HNLC does not raise its ugly head again. Mawsynram and other nearby areas were considered to be the stronghold of the HNLC when the outfit was at its peak over a decade back.
However, sources from the State police said there is hardly any presence of HNLC in the area now.
“Whenever police gets information about their presence, they immediately swing into action and cross over to other areas,” sources said.
Earlier, the outfit had cadres from Mawsynram and nearby areas but police sources said their numbers have gone down and the outfit is almost finished.
Reacting to a query about instances of extortion in such areas by the outfit, police sources said there are no instances of any extortion drive being undertaken by the outfit.
The source further stated that people do not take ransom demands seriously and most people approach the police immediately whenever such demands are made. Last month, State police had arrested three HNLC cadres and an ULFA cadre in Mawsynram with a huge cache of arms and ammunitions while they were on their way to Shillong to carry out certain illegal activities.
