TURA, Oct 11: The special police operation that took place in Siju region of South Garo Hills on Sunday afternoon, leading to the arrest of three criminals and seizure of four pistols, has brought to the fore the network in place by arms smugglers from the neighbouring state of Assam who are on the lookout for potential markets and victims.
According to sources from police, the three arrested men, two of whom happen to be former militants of the dreaded Bodo outfit NDFB, had been keeping an eye on Garo Hills for some time now in a bid to take advantage of the local criminal gangs scavenging for small arms to create petty crimes.
There have been recent attempts by some disgruntled elements to try and form small armed groups with the intention to extort and disseminate fear in the region. These groups have been making attempts to mushroom, taking advantage of the decimation of militant groups like the GNLA.
A police source revealed that the arms smugglers were recently successful in connecting with one criminal from the Garo Hills who was out looking for weapons.
The arms smugglers procured the four factory-made pistols from a gun dealer in Nagaland and proceeded to Garo Hills to display the weapons and sell them when police intercepted them.
“The pistols were of perfect factory-made material and they had purchased it for a sum of Rs two lakh. They planned to sell it to the gang for Rs five lakh when they were caught halfway in their journey,” says the police source.
This is in stark contrast to a recent dacoit gang in West Garo Hills where the petty criminals who were arrested were making do with ancient muzzle-loading shotguns.
The worrying factor for security forces in Garo Hills is that although the arms sale was nipped in the bud before it could fall into wrong hands, yet there still remain many more such smugglers who are out looking for criminals keen to showcase their firepower and make a quick buck in the region.
