TURA:
The daring attack on a police patrol team by members of a criminal gang using a powerful automatic weapon like an AK rifle in Chibinang area of Dadenggre of West Garo Hills is a worrying sign for security forces.
Though police shot dead the assailant and recovered the weapon along with multiple rounds of live ammunition and even empty casings, yet, it has revealed that sophisticated arms continue to be in use in the region that was once a hotbed for militant activity.
“What has happened is that with the dying of militancy, the armed outfits have been replaced by criminal gangs who have in their possession powerful arsenal which they can use to devastating effect,” points out an intelligence official who spoke to The Meghalayan on condition of anonymity.
Past records have shown that whenever a criminal gang is busted, the weapons seized normally consist of daos and daggers and a handful of small arms like country made pistols.
But, with the decline in militancy and a record number of ultras with armed training coming over ground to surrender, it was inevitable that soon disgruntled individuals would try and dip into their hidden weapons.
“Many cadres from groups like the GNLA, UALA and even LAEF gave themselves up with miniscule weapons like pistols or a rare automatic rifle. But all along these groups had multiple numbers of automatic weapons including sub-machine guns and even light
machine guns.
These weapons never made it to the surrender ceremony,” points out another former police officer in Tura who was once part of the counter-insurgency operations. The elusive GNLA chief Sohan D Shira, who was killed by police in 2018, was famous for burying underground sophisticated weapons like AK rifles and even explosives at multiple jungle hideouts all over the Durama hills range overlooking Williamnagar.
Even after three years of his death, police continue to uncover a hidden cache of weapons.
While the focus of security forces was primarily on the GNLA and its cadres, given its significant firepower and cadre strength, other smaller groups are believed to have quietly slipped away from the police radar to indulge in a life of crime that included selling
their arms to potential buyers.
This long time suspicion was turned into reality when another gunman on a motorbike, accosted by police outside Sherwood School area of Tura, opened fire from an AK rifle, late last year. The gunman was shot dead in the encounter and later found to be a member of another criminal gang indulging in extortion and kidnapping.
Although police have been quick to neutralise these recent armed threats, it could well be just the tip of the ice-berg. It is worth remembering that one of the most dreaded militant leaders from the largest outfit in the north-east, deputy commander in chief of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Independent) Manoj Rabha alias Dristi Rajkhowa, who operated for more than two decades in Garo Hills and was a well known explosive expert surrendered to the Indian army in South Garo Hills, last year. The fact that he came overground without surrendering a single weapon speaks volumes of the armament still lurking in some jungle hideout, waiting to fall into the wrong hands, once again.