TURA: Suspected GNLA cadres abducted two more traders from the weekly market at Chinabat in Rongram on Wednesday.
The incident occurred two days after Bapi Saha, another trader from a village in South Garo Hills, was abducted on Monday morning.
The incident occurred around 7.30pm when Chinabat was abuzz for Wednesday was the weekly market day. A group of armed men, suspected to be GNLA rebels, came down from the surrounding hills and forcibly took away Bijoy Khandu (32) and Rajesh Mahanta (33) at gunpoint from Rongram market.
Chinabat lies on the old Tura-Williamnagar road and is approximately 23 km from Rongram town and 37 km from Tura, the district headquarters of West Garo Hills. “Our intelligence reveals that it was the handiwork of the GNLA. Our teams are on the job trying to locate and rescue the two abducted traders,” said district police chief Mukesh Kumar Singh.
The Asanang-Oragitok-Rombagre-Chinabat-Rongsak route was once the hotbed of militant activities. But extensive police operations had led to the ‘sanitization’ of the area for some time.
Since the road between Asanang and Rongsak goes through West and East Garo Hills districts, militants used it to escape during police operations.
“Whenever operations are launched in one district the ultras would flee towards the other district but coordinated operations launched simultaneously from both sides had forced the rebels to abandon the area until now,” said police.
Meanwhile, police have failed to make any headway in Monday’s abduction case. The militants might have taken their victim deeper into the densely forested hills that extend beyond Chokpot and into the Durama Hills of East Garo Hills.
