Abduction of Assam traders in Garo Hills
TURA: Garo Hills police probing the abduction of seven Assam-based traders by an armed Garo group in Kharkutta region is looking into the angle of AMEF militants’ involvement as the investigation gains momentum following the release of the six remaining traders on Wednesday night.
All six traders from Doranggre town of Assam, barring 50-year-old Tustu Mohan Paul, were released by their captors at Wageasi area near Dainadubi in North Garo Hills late Wednesday night.
Tustu Paul had escaped from the militants clutches a day earlier after police teams raided a hideout at Gabil Ading village in East Garo Hills.
With police teams closing in on the kidnappers and another group of search teams comprising of the general public scouting the forests the gang had little option but to release their captives and flee for their lives.
Three days into the daring abduction of the traders group, a team of villagers out on a search reportedly came across a hurriedly abandoned fire place in a jungle near Jambal village believed to be the area where the group was spotted earlier.
The police investigation to identify the culprits is slowly closing in on the involvement of a former UALA militant cum arms smuggler, Rex Miller Sangma, and the possible hand of some members of the Achik Matgrik Elite Force (AMEF) who did not surrender with the rest of the group and its leaders last month.
While the AMEF leadership, including its chairman and military chief, gave themselves up to East aro Hills in December, some of its members reportedly refused to bid adieu to the gun and continued with their armed activities. AMEF militants have for long been active in the North Garo Hills region of Resu-Mendipather and in Rongjeng-Nongchram area of East Garo Hills.
The commander-in-chief- of the outfit was shot dead by police in North Garo Hills on May 2 last year.
North Garo Hills police have dispatched teams to Assam to take the statements of the six traders who were released on Wednesday night.
After they were released from their ordeal on Wednesday night, all six traders headed straight for Assam and to their respective homes.
While the traders have denied having paid any ransom, police sources do not rule out a portion of the ransom money being paid to the gang during the initial days of the abduction before police raided their hideout leading to one trader managing to escape to freedom during the melee.)