TURA: Two Assam-based traders heading to a weekly market in Chokpot town of South Garo Hills were abducted by armed unidentified men in the early hours of Tuesday.
The duo, Ismail Hussain and Nur Alam Mia hailing from South Salmara-Mankachar district, were part of a group of traders heading to the market in a Mahindra Max Pick-up vehicle when they were waylaid by the armed men.
About eight kms from Chokpot town in the dead of night, at a place called Teksagre, their vehicle was signalled to stop by around half a dozen men carrying weapons and sticks.
They singled out the two traders and took them out of the vehicle towards the forests while directing the others to proceed.
The criminals apparently took advantage of the isolated area and the timing.
The traders were crossing the area at around 1:30 in the night so as to reach the market before dawn and secure a good location to sell their wares.On being alerted about the incident, South Garo Hills police launched a search operation to try and locate the two traders. “We have picked up three suspects in this connection and one dummy (fake) AK series rifle made of wood has been seized from one of them”, informed South Garo Hills Superintendent of Police Billy Graham Marak.
While primary suspicion is on criminal gangs, the involvement of some former militants is not being ruled out either.
Chokpot region was once a hotbed for the banned GNLA outfit and became infamous for militant activities and atrocities on civilians, particularly the cold-blooded and barbaric execution of a mother of four children who was shot dead by the militants merely on accusation of being a collaborator of the authorities.
