Arunachal Pradesh: Longding police recovers 2 abductees from militants’ captivity

After 11 days of relentless search operation, police on Saturday night recovered abducted labourers Hiren Konch of Assam and Ramashis Mahato of Bihar from dense jungles of Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh. Both the labourers were abducted by suspected underground militants, allegedly belonging to NSCN (K-YA) on January 31.

One of the three abducted labourers, Banphua Wangpan from Arunachal had already returned on February 1. Police earlier suspected that the reason for the abduction might be ransom. The duo were recovered from Pongchau circle which is contiguous to Nagaland at around 11pm, police said.

“After tremendous efforts, Longding police has achieved success in recovery of two abductees in the recent Pumao kidnapping case. The two recovered abductees, Hiren Konch and Ramashis Mahato.

are visibly in good health and have proceeded for medical checkup,” said Longding SP Vikram Harimohan Meena.
At around 9:30 pm on January 31, a group of five to six suspected unknown cadres came to the camp of labourers who were engaged in the road construction, located in between Longkhaw and Pumao villages under Pumao circle of the district and abducted the three. They were taken towards Nagaland.

Police sources said after medical check-up no anomalies were found in their bodies. They said the incessant rain in the last few days made their mission difficult to traverse through the jungle areas, which are sparsely populated. Police however did not divulge the details of the final operation on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Assam police is in touch with their Arunachal counterpart to bring back Hiren Konch, a resident of Tingkhong in Dibrugarh district in upper Assam, whereas police sources said the Mahato will also proceed home soon. Dibrugarh SP Shwetank Mishra was hopeful that Konch will be handed over to them by Sunday evening. “Konch’s family has been informed about his recovery,” said Mishra.
Tingkhong MLA and Assam minister Bimal Borah expressed satisfaction over the recovery. Earlier, Borah apprised CM Himanta Biswa Sarma about the incident in detail and contacted senior police officials to leave no stone unturned to trace the abducted labourer. “According to my information, he (Konch) was recovered from a location near Arunachal-Myanmar border,” said Borah.

Labourers from Assam go to Arunachal Pradesh for construction works as there is always demand for labourers in the neighbouring state.