ULFA loot Rs 7 lakh from cement employee in Meghalaya

Shillong, Oct 29 (UNI) The proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom looted Rs 7 lakh from an employee of Virgo Cement Company, even as a state police official escaped unharmed in Meghalaya's Garo Hills district, police said today.

The incident occurred last evening when a group of armed ultras opened fire on the vehicle of Razib-Uddin Ahmed, representative of the cement company, between Jenjal and Anogre areas in West Garo Hills district, Meghalaya Deputy Inspector General of Police in-charge Western Range F D Sangma told UNI over phone.

The ULFA militants also reportedly stopped the vehicle of Tura Deputy Superintendent of Police B Purkayastha, but did not harm him and his driver, he said.

Mr Sangma said of the six militants involved in the crime, one has been identified as Gopesh Hajong.

Earlier, intelligence sources, based in Garo Hills, told UNI here that the ULFA's 109th battalion had increased its extortion activities in the Garo Hills area of Meghalaya.

The Garo Hills, comprising three districts--east, west and south Garo Hills--in the western part of Meghalaya, shares its border with Assam and Bangladesh. The district facilitates as a safe corridor for North East-based militants to cross over to Bangladesh.

UNI