Agartala, April 2: For the first time in Tripura’s history of insurgency, a woman chairperson of an elected village committee was abducted along with an elected member in the early hours today.

In a separate incident, three deserted trucks were found by police in a remote border area of North Tripura district today. The police said the drivers had been abducted and taken across the border to the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.

Inspector-general (operations), Nepal Chandra Das, said a group of 15 armed NLFT militants had stormed the residence of Bhagyarani Tripura, 27, chairperson of remote Malda Kumar Roajapara under Ganganagar police station in Dhalai district and abducted her at gunpoint after beating up her family members who tried to resist around 3.30am today. Before leaving the village, located atop a hill, the militants barged into the house of Debendra Tripura, 45, an elected member of the same village committee and headed towards CHT through the unfenced border.

A camp of the 139 battalion of the BSF and another of 12th battalion of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) are close to the village but the jawans failed to take any action.

“The militants abducted the two because part of the border in Malda Kumar Roajapara is still unfenced. A search operation is on under the supervision of superintendent of police (Dhalai) L. Darlong but the hostages could not be rescued because they had been taken across the border,” Das said.

He added that the NLFT had served hefty “tax” notices on Bhagyarani and Debendra and ordered them to hand over the money from the development fund allotted for the village committee.

In a separate incident, a BSF patrol party posted in remote Khantlang border outpost near the Chittagong Hill Tracts under Bhangmun police station in North Tripura, today came across three trucks standing in a row at an uninhabited Pushparam Para area between Khantlang and Anandpur border outposts around 10.30am.

They found the empty trucks and informed Bhangmun police station. The subdivisional police officer (Kanchanpur), Sudip Paul, rushed to the spot with a combined force of police and TSR jawans from Bhangmun and Kanchanpur police stations and spotted the empty trucks.

Though Paul was not available for comment, a source in his office said there is tell-tale evidence that the trucks were going to a place close to the Mizoram border to load goods of a company based in Agartala.

“The drivers of all three vehicles are suspected to have been abducted by the militants and they must have been taken across the border to the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh for ransom. A search operation on this side of the border is on but no ransom note has reached anyone so far,” a source said.

He added that the drivers are still unidentified but an inquiry is on.