Meghalaya’s ‘most wanted’ militant arrested in Tamil Nadu garment factory

William A Sangma, self-styled commander of Achik National Cooperative Army (ANCA), and an accomplice called Alas R Sangma, who was declared as “most wanted” by a special police team of the Meghalaya Police a few months ago, was finally tracked down and arrested in Chinnakkarai in Tirupur district of Meghalaya.

An official of the Meghalaya Police said William A Sangma, who had managed to escape from the Mendipathar police station lock-up in August this year, was working in a ready-made garments factory under a different name when police tracked him down there.

While William is a “wanted” person in several cases in Meghalaya’s Garo Hills region, his accomplice Alas R Sangma, who was working in the same garments factory in Tamil Nadu, too had a non-bailable warrant against him.

Surrendered ultras launch hunger strike

AGARTALA, Nov 21 – Peeved at government apathy, 26 surrendered militants have launched a hunger strike at Lachi Rehabilitation Camp in south Tripura’s Santir Bazar sub-division, official sources said.

The surrendered militants, who are undergoing vocational training, have been demanding BPL cards and loans from the State Government.

Having failed to draw the attention of administration, all inmates of the camp began the hunger strike on their 20-point charter of demands on Tuesday.

Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Uttam Mandal met the surrendered militants and appealed to them to withdraw their agitation.

“I have requested them to roll back their hunger strike as the government is ready to consider their demands, whatever they have,” the SDM said.

According to rehabilitation agreement, all the surrendered militants have been provided a package comprising a fixed deposit of Rs 1.50 lakh and Rs 3,500 monthly stipend for each returnee.

2 cops killed in Meghalaya militant ambush

SHILLONG, Nov 19 : Two policemen were killed and three injured Tuesday when tribal militants ambushed them in Meghalaya, officials said.

Heavily armed suspected militants of the outlawed Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) attacked the Meghalaya policemen in Siju area of South Garo Hills district.

The police personnel were proceeding to Siju from Baghama, the district headquarters of South Garo Hills district near the Bangladesh border.

"Preliminary reports indicate that two policemen were killed and three others were injured after they were ambushed by suspected GNLA militants," Meghalaya police chief Peter Hanaman told IANS.

He said a search operation has been launched by a joint team of Meghalaya's Special Weapons and Tactics and the Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) commandos to nab the rebels involved in the incident.

"Our men are already on the ground and we are hopeful we'll track them down at the earliest," he said.

However, the GNLA, a terrorist outfit, did not claim responsibility for the attack.

The GNLA, fighting for a separate Garoland, is headed by Champion R. Sangma, a former deputy superintendent who deserted Meghalaya Police owing to alleged harassment by his superiors. He floated the GNLA in 2009.

Sangma was arrested July 30 near the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya. The state government terminated his services in July 2010.

The outfit, outlawed by the central government, forged an operational alliance with the United Liberation Front of Asom and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, providing it access to arms and ammunition.

GNLA rebels, who number around 100, unleashed terror in three impoverished districts of Garo Hills in the last one year and killed over 35 people, including security personnel.

55 camps of NE armed groups in Bangladesh

India and Bangladesh to discuss terrorism and border crimes

Agartala, November 12 : Arms and drug smuggling, terrorism, circulation of fake currency notes and border crimes are among the issues to be discussed when border guards of India and Bangladesh meeting Nov 17, an official said here Monday.

“The BSF (Border Security Force) officials would ask the BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh) officials to dismantle the camps of northeast India terrorists, who have been running many camps in Bangladesh despite many such camps were destroyed by the security forces of that country,” a senior BSF official told IANS.

He said: “At least 55 camps of northeast India militants are still functional in different parts of Bangladesh and opposite to Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam’s borders with that country.” The northeast militant outfits running camps in Bangladesh territories include National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), United Liberation Front of Asom and National Liberation Front of Tripura.

“After Bangladesh security forces undertook occasional crackdowns against the northeast India militants, some terrorists have taken shelter in the jungles of neighbouring Myanmar,” the BSF official said on the condition of anonymity.

Inspector generals of three frontiers of BSF in northeast India - Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram-Cachar - would hold a four-day long border management meeting from Nov 17 with BGB officials at Tamabil in Bangladesh’s Sylhet district.

Meghalaya frontier Inspector General of BSF Sudhesh Kumar would lead the Indian team while Bangladesh delegation would be led by BGB’s Additional Director General (northeastern region) Mohammad Latiful Haider.

Senior officials of India’s home ministry and Narcotics Control Bureau would also present in the meeting. “Smuggling of arms and drugs and using northeastern states as corridors for their illegal hauling would also be discussed in the meeting. We would ask the BGB officials to take stringent steps to prevent such clandestine trading,” the BSF official added.

He said the BSF and BGB troopers are now holding coordinated patrolling along the border and the meeting would discuss about intensifying such joint patrolling in the sensitive and porous borders.

“Bangladesh security forces in the recent past have seized huge fake Indian currencies and arrested a large number of people involved in circulating the fake currencies. We would ask the BGB officials to share the information (with BSF) gathered about the fake currencies and their roots,” the official added.

In the meeting, the BSF would also propose to the BGB to hold mutual cultural and sports events on both sides of the border and adjoining cities and villages as part of the confidence building measures. The official said that the BSF would also ask their BGB authorities to take effective measures to prevent attacks on BSF troopers and Indian villagers by the bordering people of Bangladesh.

Four Indian northeastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam share an 1,880-km border with Bangladesh. The mountainous terrain, dense forests and other hindrances make the unfenced borders porous and vulnerable, enabling illegal immigrants and intruders cross over without any hurdle.

India is erecting a fence and putting up floodlights all along the 4,096-km India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram to check trans-border movement of militants, prevent infiltration and check border crimes.