House looted, family assaulted
TURA: A group of men, allegedly Bangladeshis, looted a house at Lower Gasuapara near the international border in South Garo Hills early on Sunday morning.
The men, wielding daggers and other weapons, barged into the house of Surendra Debbarma, assaulted the members of his family and tied them up before leaving with Rs 4 lakh, mobile phones and other household items.
Police said the robbers, who spoke Bengali, crossed the border through the river route or unmanned crossing points in the wee hours on Sunday when it was still dark.
The BSF patrolling has not deterred criminals from the other side of the border to enter nearby villages and loot, kidnap or smuggle out cattle.
The Rongara-Baghmara-Sibbari-Gasuapara stretch has recorded several cases of kidnapping in the past two years.
Last September, a cross-border gang abducted a school teacher from Jatrakona village near Gasuapara and kept him confined inside Bangladesh until ransom was paid.
In July 2016, alleged Bangla criminals the 70-year-old father of a Catholic priest was kidnapped from his home at Rongara. He was kept hostage for 20 days in a village inside Bangladesh till the family paid ransom.
In November 2015, a 40-year-old pharmacy owner in the Mahendraganj border town of South West Garo Hills was attacked while returning home from his shop. Bangladeshi criminals took him across the border and released him only after ransom was paid. In South West Khasi Hills district, Dinar Syiemlieh, a coal baron, was abducted and taken to Bangladesh territory.
Theft of two-wheelers and vehicles is a common phenomenon.
Villagers in the border areas have, at times, tried to punish culprits themselves instead of depending on police. In 2015, a thief was lynched by an angry mob that caught him while he was attempting to steal a two-wheeler from Sibbari border village in South Garo Hills.