A Assam Police team, following directions from Google Maps, strayed into Nagaland during a raid when they were attacked and captured by local residents who mistook them for criminals. The incident happened in Nagaland’s Mokokchung district on Tuesday night when the police team were carrying out a raid to catch a criminal.
As the cops, who were in civil dress and armed, inadvertently crossed the border and entered Mokokchung in Nagaland, the locals attacked them and held them captive for the night. The police personnel were eventually rescued by the Nagaland Police.
A police official said that Google Maps mistakenly showed a tea garden, which was actually in Nagaland, to be in Assam, leading to confusion, reported news agency PTI.
“Of the 16 personnel, only three were in uniform and the rest were in civil dress. This also led to confusion among the locals. They also attacked the team and one of our personnel was injured,” a police official was quoted as saying by PTI.
After receiving the information on the cops’ ordeal, the Assam Police alerted their counterparts in Nagaland. The Nagaland Police rushed to the spot to rescue the Assam cops.
The locals, on realising that they had detained a genuine police team, released five members at first and the remaining 11 people the next morning, the police official further said.