The racket was unearthed at Tura, the district headquarters of West Garo Hills, following the disclosure to the police by Novembirth Ch Marak, a top Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) militant leader.
Novembirth, founder and general secretary of GNLA, was arrested from Siliguri railway station in West Bengal Saturday, dealing a blow to the group’s network.
“We have detained three agents of different mobile companies for questioning based on Novembirth’s confession,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Bobby Momin told IANS.
Momin said that according to Novembirth, the mobile phone agents operating in Tura arranged for pre-paid SIM cards from Dimapur in Nagaland and Manipur.
“They bring registered pre-paid SIM cards from Dimapur and Manipur and sell them to people, violating all telecom norms,” Momin said.
The GNLA, which is fighting for a ’sovereign Garoland’ in the western areas of Meghalaya, is headed by Champion R. Sangma, a policeman-turned-rogue. It had demanded extortion money from various people through mobile text messages ranging from Rs.5 lakh to Rs.1 crore.
The GNLA had made these extortion demands on politicians, petrol pump owners, coal dealers and businessmen in the coal-rich districts of Garo Hills.
A former minister in the previous D.D. Lapang ministry and a retired inspector general of police were among those who received extortion demands.
The GNLA, a nascent militant outfit operating in three Garo Hills districts in the western part of Meghalaya, maintains links with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM), United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).
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