Meerut cattle smuggler brothers neutralized in an ambush between militants and Assam Police

New Delhi, April 20

In a gun fight between Assam police and suspected militants in Kokrajhar, the Meerut based cattle smuggler brothers were neutralized while four policemen injured

The incident took place inside Raimona National Park in Kokrajhar, close to the India-Bhutan border. The duo were taken to the spot for investigation of their cattle smuggling and linkage with militancy groups probe.

The two have been identified as Akbar Banjara and Salman Banjara both brother from Meerut, who were accused of allegedly running an international cattle smuggling syndicate and having links with militant groups. 

The duo hail from the Phalawda region of Meerut in UP. The UP Police had arrested them on April 13 in a special operation carried out by the UP Police and handed them over to Assam Police that was on the hunt for the duo. 

The duo allegedly ran an inter-state cow smugglers who ran an international syndicate till Bangladesh and carried a reward of Rs 2 lakh on their heads. 

According to police, the duo were allegedly involved in smuggling of cattle from UP, Haryana, West Bengal and Assam to Bangladesh via Assam. Money from the trade was allegedly distributed to extremist organisations based out of Assam’s Bodo Territorial Region (BTR), such as the banned Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), and others

As per the case details, the accused had disclosed information about routes followed by them for cattle smuggling and were taken to an interior area in the national park for identification if the same. The police team was however ambushed by suspected militants, who started firing at the police vehicle. 

The police suspect the same militancy group that was protecting the duo and aiding cattle smuggling ambushed the police to save them. However, during the gunfight, the police neutralized the accused. 

The police seized one AK-47 rifle with two magazines, 35 rounds of live ammunition and 28 rounds of fired empty cases were recovered from the spot.

The police have launched combing operations are underway to nab the extremists.