DIBRUGARH: At least 10 miners were abducted by suspected NSCN (K-YA) and Ulfa (Independent) militants from a coal mine in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh in the early hours of Sunday morning. Ulfa (Independent) is the Paresh Barua-led faction that stayed out of the pact with the Centre last month to disband.
The incident took place around 3.30am in the Phinbiro area of Changlang near the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh interstate border, an area that has seen such abductions earlier and serves as a transit route for insurgent groups with its proximity to Myanmar. According to sources familiar with the incident, a group of seven “rebels” abducted the workers at gunpoint and transported them in a dumper truck to the remote jungle area of old Longtoi in Changlang. The victims were identified as miners from the no. 14 coal mine, locally known as khadan. Police suspect the miners were kidnapped as the outfits had not been paid “extortion money”.
Three of the abducted workers have been identified as Gyan Thapa from Lekhapani Hawaipathar village, Lekhak Bora and Chandan Narzary from Ledo, all residents of Assam’s Tinsukia district.
SP (Tinsukia) Abhijit Gurav said, “While we are still confirming the exact number of workers abducted, it is clear that individuals working in the Phinbiro area were targeted.” Security forces, including the local police, the Army and Assam Rifles have launched a large-scale search operation to trace the abducted workers.
The incident took place around 3.30am in the Phinbiro area of Changlang near the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh interstate border, an area that has seen such abductions earlier and serves as a transit route for insurgent groups with its proximity to Myanmar. According to sources familiar with the incident, a group of seven “rebels” abducted the workers at gunpoint and transported them in a dumper truck to the remote jungle area of old Longtoi in Changlang. The victims were identified as miners from the no. 14 coal mine, locally known as khadan. Police suspect the miners were kidnapped as the outfits had not been paid “extortion money”.
Three of the abducted workers have been identified as Gyan Thapa from Lekhapani Hawaipathar village, Lekhak Bora and Chandan Narzary from Ledo, all residents of Assam’s Tinsukia district.
SP (Tinsukia) Abhijit Gurav said, “While we are still confirming the exact number of workers abducted, it is clear that individuals working in the Phinbiro area were targeted.” Security forces, including the local police, the Army and Assam Rifles have launched a large-scale search operation to trace the abducted workers.