Abducted Garo villager escapes from custody in Bangladesh

TURA: A 62 year old man, who was abducted from his home in a border village in South West Garo Hills by Bangladeshi criminals a week ago, made a daring escape and is now in the safety of security forces.
Palgun Arengh, a resident of Rimrangpara village located on the international border, escaped from the kidnappers’ den in Chota Gazni area of Sherpur district on Saturday morning.
Despite his age, the elderly man trekked through unknown territory in the dark and manged to locate a Bangladesh Border Guards (BBG) patrol party to whom he narrated his plight.
He was later handed over to Bangladesh police.
Arengh was abducted on May 24th by unidentified men who took him across the border.
The gang, suspected to be a mixed group of locals and Bangladeshis, initially demanded a huge ransom which was later scaled down to a couple of lakhs but before the criminals could get their hands on the ransom money their victim took off leaving them with an empty coffer.
He is expected to be handed over to the BSF within a day or two.
Frequent abductions of Indian border villagers by criminal gangs having a base across the international border have been going on for several years.
Most of the abductions have been reported from the Baghmara-Rongara region of South Garo Hills although criminals are expanding their activities towards neighbouring areas like West and South West Garo Hills border belts.