SARBHANG

3 September, 2009 - Five men armed with handmade guns (khaduwa) robbed a house in Tashiling, Sarpang, yesteray at around 1 am, making it the third armed robbery since January.

No one was injured.

The men, all masked and dressed in camouflage uniforms, attacked the house of Garjaman Rai and Hastimaya Rai, where villagers has gathered for a ritual performed for Garjaman's sick grandchild.

They finished conducting the ritual at around 12 am and were about to eat dinner when the men broke through the door and held them at gunpoint. They demanded mobile phones and, on refusal, forcibly took away Nu 5000 belonging to the pundit, who performed the ritual and his citizenship identity card. "The five men then put all the villagers in a room and started ransacking the house," said Dekiling gup, Gomchey, who reached the scene about an hour later.

The robbers took away two boxes, a wooden and metal box, containing silver coins, clothes and rations. "They also took Garjaman's daughter-in-law's gold bangle and gold chain," gup Gomchey told Kuensel.

The robbers left the place at about 2 am. The pundit then informed the gewog mangmi, whose house is located a few metres above the robbed house. The mangmi informed the gup and the gup informed the dzongkhag.

A press release from police stated that the villagers told them that the robbers were speaking in Mechey, a local dialect spoken by people across the border.

Sarpang dzongda, Kinzang Wangdi, said that the robbers could be miscreants from across the border. "If they were militants, they'd be well equipped, but last night's robbers were carrying home made guns," he said, adding "We informed the SSB about the incidents."

Earlier, in June, a family in Norbugang, Sarpang, was robbed at gunpoint by armed men. They took away Nu 20,000, six citizenship identity and voter cards, four heads of cattle and silver coins and ornaments. The victims told police that the robbers spoke Hindi and Nepali.

Last month, 10 Bodo militants, armed with AK-47 rifles, attacked Govind Prashad Pandal's house in Darjaythang, Sarpang. Darjaythang is about 300 m away from the Indian border.

The armed men had robbed another neighbour, Rajesh Pandal, of Nu 4,000, two citizenship and voter identity cards, bankbooks and other household items. Rajesh and his wife were also assaulted with rifle butts.

After the incidents, the dzongkhag had reinstituted volunteer patrolling by the villagers every night.

Since such robberies occur time and again, it is important to start a patrolling system from 11 pm to 3 am, said the Dekiling gup.

But dzongda Kinzang Wangdi said that manning the border inch by inch and fencing is not possible, since it is a porous border but, as a preventive measure, people living in the border areas should built concrete houses and lock them properly. "The miscreants always attempt to rob temporary structures," he said. "It's important to maintain a good link across the borders and have a cross border information sharing."

By Tashi Dema

source: Kuensel