Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh police and Indian Army have launched a combing operation along the Nagaland-Myanmar border near Longding district in search of the two road construction workers who were abducted by the NSCN (K-YA) militants on January 31 last, police said on Wednesday.
The abductees have been identified as Hiren Konch and Ramashis Mahato. While Konch is a native of Assam, Mahato is from Bihar.
Longding deputy superintendent of police B Tangjang told NewsFy that “though the combing operation has been launched, the whereabouts of the two abductees are yet to be established.”
“They were taken towards Nagaland so the search and rescue operation is ongoing along the Nagaland-Myanmar border as we speak. The Indian Army (Assam Rifles) is helping us,” the DSP said, while adding that the NSCN (K-YA) was behind the abduction.
Tangjang said the kidnapping has been done possibly to ask for ransom, however, no such demands have been made yet.
According to local sources a total of three persons were initially abducted by the underground outfit on January 31.
Around five to six suspected underground cadres belonging to NSCN (K-YA) came to the labourers camp located between the Longkhaw and Pumao villages under Pumao circle, abducted the three and took them towards Nagaland. The incident took place at around 9.30 pm on Monday
They, however, released one Banphua Wangpan, a resident of Longkhaw village on Tuesday who later reported the incident to the authorities.
The labourers were engaged in the Pumao-Langkhow road construction work being executed by P. P Enterprise, a local construction firm.
The Longding district shares its boundary to the south and south-east with Myanmar and to the west and north with the states of Nagaland and Assam respectively.
