Labourers shot at in Sadiya

Dibrugarh, March 25 : Seven labourers of a private company conducting seismic survey in Sadiya subdivision in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district were injured in a firing by unidentified men at 12.30 this afternoon.

Police said the labourers who were working for GT Company came under attack by criminals from Arunachal Pradesh while they were taking a break during their survey at Na-kilo, around 25km from Chapakhowa police station.

“The criminals used country made guns to attack the labourers. There was some dispute in the area and the matter is under investigation,” a police official said.

Sadiya sub-divisional police officer Patrick Ronghang rushed to the spot after receiving the news of the incident. He could not be contacted. 

The labourers who were injured in the firing are Rupeswar Buragohain, Dipak Gogoi, Jagat Buragohain, Dimpal Buragohain, Jitu Buragohain, Hirumoni Bailung and Jintu Gogoi. All of them were admitted to Sadiya Civil Hospital and doctors attending on them said they are stable. 

A source said some local organisations had been demanding money and other facilities from the company after they resumed their operations in the area. At present the company is conducting seismic survey in the Ambikapur, close to the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.

Bangladeshi held

A Bangladeshi national, identified as Safiqul Islam, 30, was apprehended from Dakergaon under Mancachar police station of Dhubri district by the army on Tuesday, reports our Dhubri correspondent. Islam is from Nutun Bazar under Rowmari police station in Bangladesh. He is being interrogated by army intelligence.

Assam cops seize Ulfa arms worth Rs 55 lakh

TINSUKIA: Assam police recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition worth Rs 55 lakh from the house of a surrendered Ulfa militant in Assam's Tinsukia district on Saturday.

The seized arms included 27 AK series rifles, 117 magazines of AK-47 rifles and 400 bullets. Police have arrested the surrendered rebel, Robin Gogoi, along with his brother, Bhadreswar Gogoi.

SP (Dibrugarh) Anurag Agarwal said, "Acting on a tip-off, we conducted a search operation at Boholharam Gaon in the Sadiya township. After 20 hours of search, police recovered the weapons that were hidden in a bhoral (a place where paddy is stocked)."

A month ago, a source said, Dibrugarh police had stumbled upon some leads on which they were working until Thursday. Since then cops gathered the information required to launch the operation. Based on the inputs, a team of over 30 cops, led by Tinsukia ASP H K Nath, launched an operation on Friday afternoon and cordoned off the Gogois house.

On Saturday morning, the SPs of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia took over the search operation and found the arms and ammunition. Robin had played a vital role in the declaration of ceasefire by the "A" and "C" companies of Ulfa's "28th battalion."

Meanwhile, BSF troops on Saturday morning arrested a suspected Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam (Multa) militant from the Mantri char area of Assam's Dhubri district.

A BSF spokesman told TOI that Zahrul Islam (40) had sneaked into India from Bangladesh through the Dhubri border. He added Islam was being interrogated and would be handed over to Dhubri police.