Seven quarry workers abducted in Garo Hills

TURA: Armed Garo rebels kidnapped seven workers of a limestone quarry in South Garo Hills on Tuesday morning sending security forces into a tizzy.
As many as seven unidentified men in civil dress and brandishing weapons barged into the quarry at Sangkini Dabgre, 5 km from Sangkinigre village in the Chokpot region, around 4.30 am. The quarry is around 30 km from Chokpot police station.
The armed men barged into the workers’ quarters, woke them up and asked them to identify themselves.
The rebels then pulled out six lorry drivers and a labourer from the group and whisked them away into the forests. All the seven persons are outsiders who work for the company that supplies limestone to the Virgo cement plant at Damas in North Garo Hills.
The abducted men have been identified as Shyama Rabha, Manoj Das, Dipak Baiswa, Khitish Rabha, Amulya Kalita, Dinobandhu Roy (all lorry drivers) and mechanic Kameshwar Pandit.
Another group of workers were saved as they were in the nearby Dabgre village.
Police have started search operation in the Chokpot region and their prime suspect is the ASAK outfit headed by Reding T. Sangma.
The rebel group was responsible for a string of kidnappings in the Chokpot-Baghmara region in the past several months.
However, police are not ruling out the involvement of Sohan D. Shira-led GNLA, which is said to have a small number of armed cadres operating in the Chokpot region.