Army, Arunachal police start probe after reports of abduction of five youths by Chinese PLA

An early morning tweet by a Congress MLA on Saturday that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China abducted five youths from close to Mcmahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Subansiri district led both army and the state police to order a ground reality check in the interior area, devoid of motorable road and telephone network.

"Five people from Upper Subansiri district of our state Arunachal Pradesh have reportedly been ‘abducted’ by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA)," Ninong Ering, MLA of Pasighat West constituency tweeted at 5.08am on Saturday following which Arunachal police sought army's help to verify the report. Ering is a former Congress MP from Arunachal Pradesh.

Defence spokesperson, Harswardhan Pande posted in army's 4 corps at Tezpur in neighbouring Assam told DH on Saturday evening that although no formal complaints have been lodged by family members, the army was trying to verify the reports.

The tweet came hours after Prakash Ringling, brother of Prasad Ringling, one of the youths posted on Facebook on Friday that five persons under Nacho circle including his brother, were abducted by troops of PLA from a place called Sera-7, situated close to the China border. He also sought the help of the administration and army to bring them back.

Sources said officials took the reports seriously as it emerged amid the growing tension between the troops of India and China in Laddakh.

In March this year, PLA had "detained" a local youth, Togley Singkam, who had reportedly ventured into "Chinse territory" but was released 19 days later after the matter was taken up by the Indian army.

Deputy commissioner of Upper Subansiri, Kanto Danggen, while talking to DH over the phone from Daporijo, the district headquarters said he had come to know about it from social media posts but there has been no official complaint from family members of the missing persons so far. "I don't deny it as of now but no one has come to me yet with a complaint about it. According to the social media post, the incident happened in a place where there is no road connectivity and it takes about 10-12 days of foot march from Nacho to reach there. There is no mobile network too. I was there at Nacho yesterday for an official function but nobody told me about it," he said.

The McMahon Line demarcates the boundary between the Tibet autonomous region of China and Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as its own. The McMahon Line is not properly demarcated and small cement pillars erected on the Indian side often get covered under jungles.