Timber traders kidnapping: Abductors send ransom note

"Though concrete information was yet to be obtained, the ransom note was reported to have been sent to the team leader (mahaldar) of the timber traders," the police said.

Two timber traders - Sapan Kumar Roy (52), Sankar Nath (35) and driver Govinda Nath (35) were abducted at gun point by five militants from Rajiv Nagar village on Sunday night.

Roy and Govinda were from were from North Tripura district while Sankar Nath was from Assam's Karimganj district.

While BSF personnel suspected the involvement of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) in the abduction, the state police did not rule out the involvement of Borok National Council of Tripura (BNCT) militants who were responsible for Rs 198 lakh robbery from BDO's office in Mizoram-Tripura border Zawlnuam village recently.

Meanwhile, a combing operation to arrest the militants and secure the release of the abducted persons continued in border areas even as sources at state intelligence suspected that the abductors may have crossed the border and were hiding inside Bangladesh or Tripura.