TURA, Jan 16: A group of petty traders, who were proceeding to Tikrikilla from Phulbari for business, were robbed in a forested area of the Chibinang-Tikrikilla road on Friday morning.
According to police, the six traders in a three-wheeler tempo were proceeding from Haat Singimari to Lakhipur in Assam via Phulbari-Chibinang-Tikrikilla road around 9 am when a white Maruti Alto vehicle bearing an Assam registration number, which was following them, overtook their vehicle and blocked the road in the deserted Gapthuli reserve forest area.
According to the traders, who later filed a police complaint, around six people armed with knives and daggers robbed them of their money and other valuables, including their mobile phones, before fleeing back on to the Chibinang road.
According to police, nearly Rs one lakh was looted.
Subsequent to the broad daylight heist, police began a manhunt and put in place several naka checks to try to intercept the gang, who is suspected to have fled into the interior of the Chibinang-Phulbari region, taking advantage of the numerous village roads that connect from the main highway.
The road stretch from Chibinang to Tikrikilla has a long history of criminal activities with many dacoities having been committed in the past.
Locals from the area say that there is a need for a permanent police or CRPF patrol deployment as the reserve forest has previously been used by criminals for concealing abductees.
“The local villagers, who go to the forest to fetch firewood, have witnessed many crimes but out of fear, kept mum. Last year, there was a number of kidnappings and even murders,” said a Tikrikilla-based school teacher.
Another recalled that each time police raid the forest area, the criminals flee to Assam to evade arrest while also accentuating the need for a permanent security presence to assure safety to the locals.
