Mizoram Police arrest former militant in cross-border abduction of Border Roads Organisation employees

They and the two victims, engineer Hukum Singh of Haryana and driver Thangchhuaha of Mizoram, both employees of the 115 RCC, road maintenance battalion of the Border Roads Orgnisation, are believed to have crossed into Bangladesh immediately after the abduction on Monday morning and are reportedly in the Zopui area of Rangamati district.

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Police have meanwhile arrested Rajmani of Tuipuibari-1 township in western Mamit district for allegedly guiding the militants during the abduction.

Rajmani is a former cadre of the disbanded Bru National Liberation Front, which for eight years fought for autonomy for the Bru tribe in Mizoram before laying down their arms in 2005, its cadres returning to normal life along with its supremo Surjyamoni Reang.

Investigators say Rajmani was in touch with the BDFM cadres before the operation and that he helped them locate the potential victims.

He has been remanded to 72 hours police custody for further questioning. No ransom demands have been received so far from the abductors, police sources said.

The Indo-Bangla border region in western Mizoram is known to have hosted several incidents of cross-border kidnappings for ransom in the past half-decade, and victims have included locals, businessmen, technicians and other professionals.