The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-I) has released Pranab Kumar Gogoi (51), one of the two employees of Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Limited, near Longvi village in Changlang District of Arunachal Pradesh on April 3, reports East Mojo. Gogoi — a resident of Assam’s Sivasagar District was employed as drilling superintendent with Quippo — and Ram Kumar (35) a native of Bihar— who worked as a radio operator — were abducted from a Quippo rig in Changlang on December 21, 2020, and taken to an undisclosed location in neighboring Myanmar. Changlang, Superintendent of Police (SP), Mihin Gambo, confirmed the development and said, “A team of Arunachal police, which had gone deep inside the jungles, has rescued Pranab Kumar Gogoi. We are interrogating him.”
The Centre has extended the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in three Districts of Arunachal Pradesh besides four Police Station areas in three other Districts bordering Assam by another six months, and declared them "disturbed" in view of continuing activities of banned militant groups, reports The Assam tribune on April 1. According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Tirap, Changlang and Longding Districts of Arunachal Pradesh and four Police Stations bordering Assam were declared "disturbed" areas under the AFSPA. "Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts in Arunachal Pradesh and the areas falling within the jurisdiction of the following four police stations in other districts of Arunachal Pradesh, bordering the state of Assam, are declared as 'disturbed area' under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 up to September 30, 2021 with effect from April 1, 2021, unless withdrawn earlier," the notification said. The four Police Stations are Namsai and Mahadevpur Police Stations in Namsai District, Roing Police Station in Lower Dibang Valley District and Sunpura Police Station in Lohit District. The decision was taken following a review of the law-and-order situation in the three Districts and the four Police Station areas concerned, an MHA official said.