Silchar, Nov. 1: Assam police is set to launch flushout operations against Bru and Tripuri militants in south Assam, particularly in the Cheragi-Nivea and Medili areas of Karimganj district bordering Mizoram and Tripura.

Karimganj district additional superintendent of police Hemanta Bhattacharjee they would deploy additional CRPF personnel for patrolling, beef up the lone border outpost at Rongpur village, increase police surveillance and ensure more ground-level intelligence feedback.

The CRPF columns would be deployed at Medili, which has now become the focal point of extortion campaign by militants.

Local residents said a few families, who had received such extortion notes, had sold their property and shifted to safer areas in the district.

Bhattacharjee said they had picked up two Chakma tribals, suspected linkmen of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), from Nagra village in the district early this week. The duo has been identified as Chandrajit Chakma and Chinachandra Chakma. One is a resident of North Tripura district and the other of Durgacherra in the district. They were remanded to jail custody yesterday by Karimganj’s judicial magistrate.

This year, four villagers from this border zone were abducted by the NLFT and the Bru National Liberation Front militants. The police rescued two of them last month.

However, moves by both the police and the BSF to rescue the other two persons, Manindra Nath, a trader, and Chitta Ranjan Nath, a teacher, who were abducted by the NLFT, have come a cropper.

Sources said the hostages, who hail from Nilambazar and were kidnapped from Nayagram village on the border in the district 45 days ago, are being held at Bianibazar village in Sylhet district of Bangladesh.

The NLFT has, however, scaled down the ransom for both these persons from Rs 60 lakh last month to Rs 3 lakh.