Four people were arrested by police in a sting for serving extortion notes to shops in the Police Bazar area of Shillong today.
Demand notes had been in the news of late, prompting the authorities to act against the miscreants.
The special cell of the East Khasi Hills police laid a trap and arrested the four as they served extortion notes to a shop.
The extortion letters, receipt books and receipt slips purported to be from little-known organisations, such as the Hynniewtrep People Defense Alliance, United Khasi Movement, Federation of Khasi United People, Confederation of Meghalaya People, Khun Hynniewtrep Youth Council and Hynniewtrep Youth Regions. These may or may not be fronts for better-known organisations.
In addition, the police also seized four mobile phones from the arrested individuals as well as a scooty (ML 05 Q 9828). The names of the suspects were not divulged by police. Some of them have criminal records and were arrested earlier, police added.
The four are being interrogated to ascertain other targets of extortion and track down other miscreants involved in the extortion racket.
The public and business establishments have been requested to provide information to the police in order to crack down on the criminal activity.
