SHILLONG:
Twelve days after an email was sent to chief minister Conrad Sangma threatening to blow up educational institutes in the state, sleuths of the Crime Branch arrested two persons, including the founder of a newly formed group, “Lawei ba Phyrnai”, on April 13.
Though sources in the police headquarters confirmed that two people have been apprehended, they refrained from divulging details even as top officials say the investigation on the matter is ongoing.
“Please do not ask for more information now, we are still on the job and believe us, we have been burning the midnight oil all these days to crack this case,” an officer said over phone.
Currently, the two arrested male youths, who were picked up from within the city, are in police custody and one of them is the founder of the outfit, he informed.
He further informed that the police department was adamant about solving the case from the beginning and had used all its resources to do so.
Earlier on April 13, chief minister Conrad Sangma had said that the state government is “doing everything” to track the persons involved in sending threat emails to set off bombs in certain places in the state. The chief Minister had also informed that on Tuesday afternoon he had a meeting with Special Director General of Police Idashisha Nongrang on the matter.
In a series of emails since April 1 to the chief minister, Governor and some police officials the Lawei ba Phyrnai have been stating their demands and threatening to blow up educational institutes if they aren’t met. On April 1, in their first email, the outfit had identified itself as a “terror group” formed by 37 “qualified jobless youth” and had threatened to execute bomb blasts every single week starting from May 1, 2022.
Again, on April 7, the state government had received an email sent by the outfit wherein they threatened to carry out a series of bomb attacks targeting educational institutions if the government fails to release a former Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) leader who is currently serving 25-years jail time for raping a minor. Following the threat, the administration had beefed up security in educational institutes.