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West Bengal criminals hiring NDFB(S) militants

By Sanjoy Ray

GUWAHATI, May 31 � The breakaway Sangbijit faction of the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) has now become a common headache for both Assam and West Bengal police!

Organised criminal elements of neighbouring West Bengal are now hiring NDFB(S) cadres� services to execute their �abduction-for-ransom� bids, an intelligence report of the Assam Police says.

In the last few months, while two such bids were averted and the victims including a minor hailing from West Bengal were rescued, the law enforcing agencies of both the States are, however, yet to trace an abducted West Bengal-based trader who is believed to be in the clutches of the NDFB(S) militants.

The trader has been handed over by their original abductors in West Bengal to the NDFB(S) militants, the Assam Police�s intelligence report stated.

Services of the NDFB cadres are hired for providing a hideout till the ransom amount is realised, a top intelligence official of the Assam Police told The Assam Tribune.

Of the three cases that came to the notice of the Assam Police through its counterpart in West Bengal, in two cases the abducted persons, including a minor, were rescued from the Assam-Bengal border near Kokrajhar.

However, a joint search operation is still on, mostly in BTAD areas, to rescue Bishnu Prasad Barman, who was abducted some weeks back.

Although the cases are reported in West Bengal, mostly along the bordering areas, Assam Police is providing all logistical support to the West Bengal Police in rescuing the victim and nabbing the culprits, the official told this reporter.

Superintendent of Police (Kokrajhar) Sunil Kumar, when contacted over phone, said that the operation is on and all possible hideouts are being searched to rescue Bishnu Prasad Barman.

Barman hails from Cooch Behar, the SP said, adding that they are in constant touch with the West Bengal Police in this regard.

�We had reports that the victim was abducted from Cooch Behar and handed over to the NDFB(S),� Kumar added.

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