Two Meghalaya rebels arrested in Kolkata

Two close aides of a Meghalaya secessionist outfit's key leader were arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police in West Bengal, police said Sunday.

"Albert Jyrwa and Amar Sinha were arrested late Saturday night from a guest house in Kolkata," Mariahom Kharkrang, the district police chief of East Khasi Hills in Meghalaya, told IANS.

He said the arrested men were close associates of Phyrnai Swer alias Pastor, a former Meghalaya police constable-turned-lieutenant of the separatist Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC).

Swer was arrested April 1 from the Kalikapur area in West Bengal.

"Jyrwa and Sinha are aides of Swer and the arrests are a prized catch for us as both have been aiding and abetting the rebel outfit," Kharkrang said.

He said a Meghalaya Police team has left for Kolkata to take their custody.

The Khasi outfit is fighting for a sovereign Hynniewtrep homeland in the eastern part of Meghalaya. The HNLC stages hit-and-run operations from hideouts in Bangladesh.

Meghalaya shares a 443-km border with Bangladesh, part of which is hilly and unfenced and thus prone to infiltration.