By IANS,
Shillong : The Meghalaya Police Sunday unearthed links between the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) rebels and the influential Garo Student’s Union activists in Meghalaya, an official said.
The linkages came to fore after GSU activists Crizal D. Shira and Silchang D. Marak were arrested in the afternoon from Sisobibra area, near Williamnagar, the district headquarters of East Garo Hills, when they were to deliver Rs.7 lakh to GNLA military chief Sohan D. Shira, police said.
The duo was arrested from a vehicle bearing an Assam registration number which ferried them from Mendipathar to Williamnagar. Driver Sabin Boro was also arrested, police said.
“It is a prize catch for us. The arrest gave us a new lead about the modus operandi of GNLA and its linkages,” East Garo Hills police chief J.F.K. Marak told IANS.
“We will interrogate them further to find out more about the linkages and how deep this nexus is,” he added.
Marak said during preliminary interrogation the arrested students confessed that the seized amount of Rs.7 lakh collected from a municipal toll gate at Mendipathar area was meant to be delivered to the GNLA chief.
However, GSU chief Tengsak G. Momin denied that his organisation was maintaining links with the GNLA.
“We have no links with any militant group or political parties. I have asked my general secretary to find out the exact cause of the arrest of our two members and we will react accordingly,” Momin said.
The GNLA, which is headed by police officer-turned outlaw Champion R. Sangma, has unleashed a reign of terror in the three impoverished districts of Garo Hills in the western part of Meghalaya.
The GNLA, one of the five Garo rebel groups, is fighting for a sovereign Garoland. It has forged an operational alliance with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).
Over 10 people, including security personnel, have been killed in the Garo Hills during the last one year by GNLA rebels.
The outfit had earlier slapped extortion demands ranging from Rs.5 lakh to Rs.1 crore on government officials, ministers, legislators and businessmen.