Operation launched to catch extortionists

BIRGUNJ, NOV 06 -

The administration has launched an operation to catch extortionists after receiving a number of complaints from traders that they had been receiving threatening phone calls demanding money from criminals doing time at Motihari Jail in Bihar, India.

Superintendent of Police Diwesh Lohani said they recently arrested Ram Babu Sah of Raxaul, India who had been sent to collect the money.

Police officers posing as businessmen talked the callers into negotiating a deal, and convinced them to reduce their demand from Rs 500,000 to Rs 50,000.

They were arrested when they arrived to pick up the money. The police have filed a case of abduction against Sah.

Police said Sunil Singh, who is doing time in Motihari Prison, had been found to be demanding money from Nepali traders.

According to Lohani, Singh had even planted a bomb on the street to terrify the businessmen.

Police investigations have revealed that Sah and Singh were in regular contact. Over a dozen businessmen have filed complaints with the administration that they received threats from Singh’s mobile phone.

Last month, the police held Jitendra Giri in Jaymanglapur, Parsa. He had been collecting ransom. Lohani said the Singh and Giri groups had been threatening businessmen in recent times. According to him, they had been able to catch the criminals with the joint efforts of the police in Nepal and India.

Criminal activities along the Nepal-India border had risen in the past due to lack of coordination between the security forces of the two countries.

According to a police official, weak coordination between the administrations of the two countries in recent days has encouraged criminals in the border towns. Frequent changes of police and administration chiefs have also made things difficult.

Earlier, a joint effort of the Narayani Zonal Chief Senior Superintendent of Police Sarbendra Khanal and Motihari Police Chief SP Binaya Kumar had led to the arrest of a dozen people engaged in illegal activities.

Source: The Kathmandu Post