Shillong: Security forces have arrested a fifth Bangladeshi national in connection with last week’s armed raid on a border village in Meghalaya’s South West Khasi Hills district, police said on Sunday.
The suspect, apprehended during a joint search operation by the Meghalaya Police and Border Security Force (BSF) in the Chibak forest area on Saturday night, is accused of being part of an eight to nine-member gang that crossed into Rongdangai village shortly after midnight on August 7.
According to police, the intruders assaulted a local shopkeeper and looted cash and valuables before retreating towards the Bangladesh border.
Four of them were captured earlier after villagers and security personnel gave chase.
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Superintendent of Police B Jyrwa said the search team recovered a Bangladesh Police identity card, three medical prescriptions, three wireless sets, an axe, a barbed-wire cutter, a small knife, three micro-explosives, and currency in both Bangladeshi taka and Indian rupees.
The gang’s leader, identified as a Bangladesh Police constable, was injured in a confrontation with villagers and BSF troops and is undergoing treatment.
Authorities said border fencing work is ongoing in the area to curb cross-border crime, and efforts are continuing to track down the remaining suspects.
