Shillong, Aug 1: The state police on Sunday thwarted an attempt at kidnapping and formation of a militant outfit by arresting the accused and recovering huge amount of explosives in the Ri-Bhoi district.
According to police, its personnel from West Garo Hills Police along with Ri-Bhoi Police conducted a joint operation in Umdu village on Umling-Patharkhmah Road under Nongpoh Police Station on Sunday morning and recovered explosives and other items.
Meghalaya police public relations officer, Gabriel Iangrai informed that the explosives recovered included 23 numbers of gelatine stick class-2 explosives, weighing 2.875 kg, 24 numbers of non-electric detonators and approximately 9 meters of safety fuse/Cordtex.
One person was also arrested on grounds of possession of these explosives.
Iangari said, “This recovery was part of an ongoing investigation in which two persons were arrested in Tura on July 23, 2021. These two persons were planning to form a new militant outfit and to kidnap an unknown person from Tura-Dalu Road.â€
According to him due to timely and swift action by West Garo Hills Police, the kidnapping attempt was foiled.
“Further, during investigation, the arrested persons revealed that they have kept some explosives hidden in Ri-Bhoi District near Umling in order to prepare Improvised Explosive Device (IED) for causing a blast somewhere in Garo Hills. Accordingly, the operation was launched this morning and above-mentioned recoveries were made,†the Meghalaya police public relations officer said.
