Guwahati, March 31: The abduction of Meghalaya-based customs inspector Deepak Mahanta and six others by the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) has led intelligence agencies to suspect that the outfit is “desperate” for funds to sustain a massive recruitment drive along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
The focus of the NDFB’s new recruitment drive is Haluaghat in Mymensing district, an area that is home to a sizeable population of Bodos, Rabhas and Garos. Intelligence sources said the outfit was extorting money from people on either side of the border in a bid to collect enough funds to set up training camps for its recruits.
Three other districts of the neighbouring country — Netrokona, Sherpur and Jamalpur — have a combined 50,000-strong population of Garo, Rabha and Bodo tribesmen, who have often been engaged by the NDFB for subversive activities along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Militants, especially those of the NDFB, use the entire stretch of the 126-km international border in the Garo Hills with the local population serving as a shield.
A senior official said the NDFB was “actively supported” by Dilash Marak, the Dhaka-based chairman of the Achik National Volunteers’ Council (ANVC), in abducting Mahanta and the six traders. Marak and top NDFB leader Sushil Boro, who is also in Bangladesh, are known to be “very close” to one another. A police officer quoted a female NDFB militant who was arrested in the Garo Hills recently as saying that her outfit was “short of money” after winding up its camps in Bhutan.
“The extortion spree on either side of the interna1tional border and the recent abductions indicate that the Bodo outfit is desperate for money to sustain its recruitment drive and pay local guides and people in Bangladesh who are supporting it,” he said.
Over Rs 10 lakh is said to have changed hands before the NDFB released Turin Paul and Lokhikant Sharma, two of the six persons who were taken hostage along with Mahanta.
The police are investigating allegations that a business lobby in the South Garo Hills is trying to take advantage of the situation. Senior officials did not discount the possibility of the group taking control of the coal business in the area.
R.C. Agrawal, president of the Northeast Federation of International Trade, denied negotiating with the NDFB for the release of the abducted customs inspector and the six employees of Dosi Tourism.
The businessman told The Telegraph that he had visited Dhaka and Chittagong recently for a “buyer-seller meet” and not to negotiate with the NDFB leadership. “There was no question of meeting the militants to secure the release of the hostages,” he said. Agrawal, who has a stake in Dosi Tourism, was the deputy leader of the 53- member exporters’ delegation to Dhaka. He headed the team at the Chittagong meet. The two events were held between March 9 and 14.
Sources said the NDFB actually intended to abduct the exporters who were attending a meeting at Gasuapara. However, the plan was changed because the exporters left the place 30 minutes before the militants arrived. All leading exporters of the region were at Gasuapara on the day of the abductions.
Agrawal claimed he was in New Delhi preparing for the Dhaka meet when the incident took place. “I learnt about it the next day,” he said.
The businessman had handed over his export firm to Vijay Dosi after becoming the president of the Northeast Federation of International Trade. His involvement in the company now is in the capacity of a member of the board of directors.
He said Dosi Tourism could not fulfil the NDFB’s demand for Rs 5 crore in ransom. “How can we pay such a huge amount when the combined business of the 39 exporters based at Gasuapara does not exceed Rs 1 crore annually?”