The Indian Army will train the recruits for five new Assam Police commando battalions to be raised soon, the State’s Director General of Police (DGP) Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said on Sunday.
The police chief said 5,200 candidates, including 707 women, recruited in May, have been selected to fill vacancies across six wings of the Assam Police. More than half of them — a total of 2,720 — have been selected as Sub-Inspectors and Constables for the five commando units.
“The Army has agreed to provide for our new commandos at its facilities because our training centres cannot take in more than the other recruits currently undergoing training. Our instructors will coordinate with their Army counterparts for imparting training to the new commandos,” he told journalists at the police headquarters in Guwahati.
Mr. Mahanta said a retired Army Brigadier has been appointed as a special Deputy Inspector General of Police to ensure scientific training for the new commandos, who came through a test more stringent than that for the others.
The five new commando battalions have been envisaged for specific roles. Two of these will focus on urban operations while the other three will concentrate on raids in terrorist hideouts and jungle warfare.
Also read: Seventeen Bangladeshis held for religious preaching: Assam DGP
17 Bangladeshis arrested
The DGP said 17 Bangladeshis have been arrested from the Baghmari area in northeastern Assam’s Biswanath district for flouting tourist visa norms and engaging in religious preaching. Eight of the arrested are in police remand and the rest in judicial custody, he said.
“Investigation revealed that they entered India on tourist visas but had no connection with any tourism-related activity,” he said, adding the police had not yet found any evidence of their involvement in “preaching for radicalisation”.
