Shillong, Aug 10: A fifth Bangladeshi suspected of being part of the gang involved in an armed raid on a village along the border in South West Khasi Hills was apprehended today by police with the help of villagers.
Mubarak Hussain of Kalagaon Sonamganj in Bangladesh was caught in Gilagora, police said, at around 7am Sunday morning.
Like at least one of his comrades, he appears to have been assaulted by his captors, with blood seen streaming down his head and face in a photograph. Two mobile phones, a small amount of Bangladeshi currency and other items were recovered from his possession.
Four Bangladeshis were arrested in a joint operation between the Border Security Force and state police, it was revealed yesterday.
In the early hours of Friday, one Balsrang A Marak was kidnapped and assaulted by several Bangladeshi men, at least one of whom is suspected of being a policeman in the neighbouring country. They looted cash and valuables from him and the shop he was sleeping in overnight and the Banladeshis then headed towards the border before they were intercepted. While four were apprehended, others escaped.
In another border security breach, suspected armed Bangladeshis forcibly entered Khunjoy. Police launched an operation but the suspects managed to escape after two rounds were fired in the air. In the same district eight suspected Bangladeshis entered into a stone quarry at Bagli on August 7 at about 1am, sources said. Police getting wind of the infiltration conducted a search operation and located them but they too managed to flee.
Recently, there were reports that Bangladeshis entered Indian territory to steal coal in SWKH. Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma had said there has been substantial progress in fencing work along the Indo-Bangladesh border with another 40km remaining unfinished.
