Shillong, Aug 10: Security forces on Sunday arrested a fifth Bangladeshi national allegedly involved in the armed raid on a village along the border in Meghalaya’s South West Khasi Hills district, police said.
The accused was part of a gang of eight-nine armed men, which crossed over into Rongdangai village around midnight on August 7, assaulted a local shopkeeper, and looted cash and valuables before fleeing back towards the border, they said.
Villagers, along with security personnel, chased and caught four of them, they added.
Superintendent of Police B Jyrwa said the fifth suspect was apprehended during a search operation jointly conducted by the Meghalaya Police and the BSF in the Chibak forest area on Saturday night.
Among the items recovered from the suspects were a Bangladesh Police identity card, three medical prescriptions, three wireless handsets, an axe, a barbed-wire cutter, a small knife, three micro-explosives, and currency notes in Bangladeshi ‘taka’ and Indian rupees.
The gang leader, a Bangladesh Police constable, sustained injuries during confrontation with villagers and BSF personnel and is currently under treatment.
Border fencing work is underway in the area as part of measures to curb cross-border crime, police said, adding that efforts are on to trace the remaining suspects. (PTI)
