Two teenage boys from Mizoram, who were abducted by CDF Hualngoram, a militia group fighting Myanmar’s military junta, were released after nearly a week on September 6.

Their release took place in the evening, according to an Assam Rifles officer in Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, on Saturday (September 7, 2024). Assam Rifles is responsible for guarding the India-Myanmar border.

The officer explained that the two boys, aged 15 and 16, were part of a group of five friends who had crossed the border to visit Rih Dil Lake, a popular picnic spot for people from Zokhawthar and nearby areas in Mizoram’s Champhai district.

All five are residents of Zokhawthar, a border trade centre that has not been affected much by the civil war in Myanmar since the army coup in the country in February 2021.

The five rode out on two Chinese-made Kenbo bikes on September 1. They were stopped by a few CDF Hualngoram cadres and thrashed because of a previous argument or scuffle they had with some other boys from Zokhawthar.

Three of the five managed to escape and return to India while the two were held hostage by the CDF Hualngoram. “They were kept in the Rih Dil area for two days and transferred to the Liando Camp in Seik village of Myanmar, where they were kept in a jail and tortured,” the officer said.

“Their heads were shaved off, cigarette butts were used on their heads and bodies, and the front teeth of one of the boys were also extracted. The CDF Hualngoram may have tortured the two boys as a show of dominance in the affairs of the border,” the officer said.

At present, the “police” of the CDF collect tax on all goods, to and from India, under the protection of the Chin National Army, a larger extremist group.

Zokhawthar locals had expressed anguish over the abduction of the two teens and reminded the Chin forces how the Mizos welcomed and sheltered their people. The dominant Mizos of Mizoram and the Chins of Myanmar are ethnically related.