Meghalaya official abducted by rebels

SHILLONG - Militant group Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) abducted a Meghalaya government official and his driver at gunpoint, a police official said Friday.

About five armed GNLA rebels abducted R. Syngkon, the district transport officer of East Garo Hills district, and his driver Thurday night from his official residence in Williamnagar, district police chief Sylvester Nongtynger told IANS.

However, police are yet to identify the driver.

The GNLA, which is fighting for a sovereign Garoland in the western Meghalaya, has links with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).

According to Nongtynger, the rebels kidnapped the official and his driver and drove off in Syngkon’s official vehicle before abandoning it at Dawegre village, about 10 km from Williamnagar.

Earlier, the GNLA had sent sent extortion demands of Rs.60 lakh to Syngkon through mobile text messages.

An operation has been launched to rescue Syngkon and the driver, Nongtynger said.

On July, the GNLA, headed by Champion R. Sangma, a deputy superintendent of police-turned-rogue, had sent extortion demands ranging from Rs.30 lakh to Rs.60 lakh each to three government officials through mobile text messages.

A block development officer in East Garo Hills district and a sub-divisional officer (civil) at Resubelpara were among those officails who received the extortion demands.

A cabinet minister in the previous D.D. Lapang ministry revealed in March that he had received a number of text messages from the GNLA asking him to “contribute to the organisation or face the consequences”.

The former minister, who did not wish to be named, claimed some Garo legislators too had received such text messages.

The GNLA had earlier slapped extortion demands ranging from Rs.5 lakh to Rs.1 crore on petrol pump owners, coal dealers and businessmen in the coal-rich districts of Garo Hills.