India may supply two offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) to Sri Lanka that would further help the island nation guard its maritime boundaries, sources said. The two vessels are likely to be built at the Goa shipyard and could be handed over to Sri Lanka by 2017-18. Sources pointed out that India had also inked a pact two years ago to acquire 80 Fast Interception Craft from a Sri Lankan company to shore up Indian coastal security. India is trying to strengthen its defence ties with Lanka amid concerns raised by parties in Tamil Nadu who hold the Lankan government guilty of discriminating against Tamils.
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3 ‘kidnappers’ lynched in Assam
Goalpara (Assam), Sept. 5: Suspecting them to be behind the abduction of two school students, villagers lynched three persons on Thursday in Assam’s Goalpara district, the police said. The students were kidnapped on September 1 from Krishnai Bazar here. Meghalaya and Assam police launched a joint operation in the area bordering the two states following which the kidnappers released the boys on September 3. — PTI
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US experts search for missing plane in Tripura
Age correspondent
Agartala, Sept. 5
A team of American experts arrived here to carry out a recovery mission in the remote Birmanipara under Gandachera sub-division of Dhalai district in northern Tripura to trace the transport plane that went missing 67-years ago and the mortal remains of 55 US airmen travelling in it. Caught in the vortex of a bad weather, the plane crashed on 17 May,1946, while travelling from Rangoon to Kolkata.
“They were supposed to start the search operation on Thursdau but it is uncertain due to heavy rain and the remote location,” said Rati Ranjan Debnath, Dhalai superintendent of police.