Two ONGC employees abducted by Ulfa-I rescued near India-Myanmar border

Three workers were were abducted at gunpoint from an ONGC site located within Lakwa Tea Estate

A joint team of army, Assam Rifles and police rescued two of three ONGC workers who were abducted allegedly by Ulfa (Independent) insurgents from Nagaland's Mon district in the wee hours of Saturday.

Three workers were abducted at gunpoint from a workover rig site of ONGC located within Lakwa Tea Estate Cholapather grant in eastern Assam's Sivsagar district on Wednesday. Assam police said five militants came to the site and kidnapped the ONGC staff in an ambulance kept at the site. Ulfa, however, has not yet made any claim of the incident.

"Security forces have been able to rescue two of the three victims from near the India-Myanmar border in Mon district, Nagaland. The rescued persons are Alakesh Saikia and Mohini Mohan Gogoi. Efforts are going on to rescue the third victim," Assam director general of police, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said in a social media post.

The third person, Ritul Saikia, a junior assistant (production) of ONGC, was still untraceable.

An army source told DH that an AK-47 rifle has been recovered from the site.

Assam Police had on Friday said information received by them suggested that the kidnapping was done by the ULFA (I) under command of SS Maj Ganesh Lahon alias Purna Lahon and his accomplices, Aidyaman Asom alias Moniram Borgohain and Pradip Gogoi alias Akon. Police arrested 14 Ulfa linkmen and sympathisers in connection with the case.

"I take this opportunity to convey my heartfelt thanks to the personnel of 57 Mountain division Leimakhong and DGP Nagaland and Nagaland Police personnel and above all the village elders of Mon district, Nagaland up to Maniakshu near Indo-Myanmar Border. Without your kind cooperation and timely intervention of the security forces on our input and continuous coordination, the rescue operation would not have been possible," Mahanta posted on Facebook.

This was the second major abduction by Ulfa (Independent) since December. Two employees of a private drilling company were abducted in December from their worksite in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh. The duo was released after more than 100 days.