Manipur sees first foreigner abducted

A German national was kidnapped by suspected Kuki Liberation Army (KLA) militants near Moirangpurel Phura Makhong, about 25 km from Imphal, ...

A German national was kidnapped by suspected Kuki Liberation Army (KLA) militants near Moirangpurel Phura Makhong, about 25 km from Imphal, on March 23.

Heinrich Wolfgang, along with his companion Edda Kirlies, had arrived in Imphal on March 21 to inspect some projects funded by German NGOs in the state. Both are members of a German funding agency supporting developmental activities in developing countries.

He was abducted while he was on his way to Chingmeirong, accompanied by some members of an NGO called Fraternal Green Care/Voluntary for Village Development, to inspect a project implemented by a local NGO called United NGO Mission. The gun-toting militants, suspected to be members of the KLA, then whisked away Wolfgang to an undisclosed destination.

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He was abducted on Friday afternoon but the authorities had kept it secret till it became public yesterday. The authorities were trying to keep it a secret in view of the fact that he is a foreigner. Sources in the state police headquarters at Imphal told The Indian Express that several persons have been picked up for interrogation, but no one has been arrested so far.

Kirlies, who incidentally was not traveling, is safe, official sources said. They said the KLA has demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore for the release of the German national. This incidentally is the first time in Manipur and second time in the Northeast that a foreigner has been taken captive by militant groups.

Earlier, the ULFA had abducted Sergei Gritchenko, a Russian engineer working on contract for Coal India Ltd, in June, 1991 from Margherita in Tinsukia district. Gritchenko however was killed while trying to escape, and his body was never recovered.

The police said the trio from Chandigarh — Rohan (21), Sumit (22), and Mohit (19) — were dhol players by profession and had procured the weapons due to an old rivalry with local residents.

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