Tura, Oct. 3: Meghalaya police today arrested three persons in connection with the abduction of an assistant engineer of a private construction firm from Phulbari town in West Garo Hills district.
Waseem Ahmed, 25, from Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir, was abducted allegedly by five former cadres of A'chik Matgrik Elite Force from Samanda -Jengjal junction in East Garo Hills on Monday.
The three accused arrested are Tinku Sangma, 28, Dilnang K. Sangma, 23 and Moktadir Hussain, 28.
"We have arrested the three accused who will be handed over to East Garo Hills police for interrogation," West Garo Hills superintendent of police Mukesh Singh said.
Phulbari is about 106km from Tura, the district headquarters of West Garo Hills.
In the past 10 days, the Garo hills have witnessed a series of abductions, including that of nine passengers from a bus at Wageasi in North Garo Hills, abduction of a central intelligence officer Vikash Kumar Singh and a trader Kamal Saha from Panda, near Rongara in South Garo Hills.
The police are yet to trace the whereabouts of Vikash and Kamal who were abducted on September 24. "Operations are on along the entire stretch of the Rongara-Baghmara area. However, we have no leads as of now," said an official.
BSF officers are in touch with their counterparts in Bangladesh, but neither Vikash nor Kamal's whereabouts are known yet. "We have no information as of now. Our search is on," South Garo Hills superintendent of police Lakador Syiem said.
South Garo Hills is densely forested and is close to the Bangladesh border. The police said the team has fanned out in the forest to locate the IB official and the trader.
Rebel groups, including the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) and the A'chik Matgrik Elite Force, have distanced themselves from the abductions. The AMEF said five of its former cadres, who recently deserted the outfit, were unleashing terror in Garo hills.
Several civil organisations and rebel groups have made an appeal for the release of the IB official.
The police have arrested one person in connection with the abduction of nine passengers from North Garo Hills. "Search operations are on and we are hopeful of a breakthrough," North Garo Hills superintendent of police Ramesh Singh said.
"We have arrested one person who was acting as a spotter for the group of kidnappers and have a few leads in the case. Search operations are on and we are hopeful of a breakthrough," said Ramesh Singh, SP of North Garo Hills.
Of the nine abducted, the police have identified two persons as of now - #Avinash Rai, the conductor of the bus and Doley Gurung a trader from Shallang in West Khasi Hills. The police claim that a ransom call was made to Rai's family demanding Rs 5 lakh. However, this could not be verified with his family.
The police said the families of the abducted persons have not come forward to file an FIR or missing report.
The incident took place on September 28, when five militants waylaid the bus at Wageasi and took the passengers at gunpoint and held them hostage.
"We have spread security forces all over and something is expected to break soon. There is constant monitoring going on. Though we have not been able to make any headway in this matter," special DGP (CID) Meghalaya, S.K. Jain said.
The police believe Achik Songna Anpachakgipa Kotok (ASAK) was involved in the abduction of Vikash and Kamal. However, the outfit has denied its involvement.
"We have conclusive intelligence input about the involvement of ASAK. They may disassociate themselves but we have launched a massive operation as per the inputs. We are confident that there will be a breakthrough soon and everything will be clear," Jain added.
