New Delhi: The five Arunachali youth picked up by People's Liberation Army (PLA) from the higher reaches near the India-China border in Upper Subansiri on September 2 may have been given the 'ride of their life' by the Chinese forces.
They were handed over to the Indian Army on September 12 at the Kibithu-Damai border not very far from the India-China-Myanmar border tri-junction, which is nearly 1,000 km away east from the pickup site.
"The reason why they were handed over by the PLA so far away is that the place from where they were picked up comes under the Dimapur-based 3 Corps and the designated point for interactions between the 3 Corps and the PLA is Kibithu," a senior military source told ETV Bharat.
Damai is a PLA post on the Chinese side while Kibithu in Anjou district is in India. The two posts are barely 2.5 km away from each other.
But in doing so, the five youths have travelled across one of the most beautiful regions on earth with deep gorges, roaring mountain rivers and abundantly green surroundings and often referred to as China's 'Switzerland'.
While there is no doubt the youths' 'lifetime experience' will be memorable, one is not sure whether it would be as pleasurable because the PLA may have treated the youths, at least initially, as 'agents'.
Read: China handovers 5 missing Arunachal youths
While the youths are now in Kibithu undergoing the mandatory 14-day quarantine period as a precautionary step for COVID-19, the army is tightlipped about the rare adventure trip of the youths which landed them in Chinese custody.
The incident took place amid soaring military tension between India and China that has escalated from a border row in eastern Ladakh. It led to activation of telephonic hotlines between the two armies.
There is reason to believe that the youths may have been taken to Nyingchi, the base of the PLA's 52nd and 53rd Mountain Infantry brigades, just across Arunachal Pradesh's Tuting and not very far from the pickup point.
ETV Bharat spoke to several local sources in Upper Subansiri. They all affirmed that local tribal youth do move up to the north towards the McMahon Line, the India-China de facto border during this time of the year looking for the Himalayan musk deer and the caterpillar fungi locally called 'yarsa gumba'.
While the deer secretes a substance locally called 'kasturi' that is used in very expensive perfumes and medicines, the 'yarsa gumba' is famous as an aphrodisiac endowed with many other medicinal properties. These two exotic products fetch a very high market price.
Read: Arunachal CM treks for 11 hours to meet people of remote village
The youths were part of a seven-member team of which the five had ventured up north to a point called 'Sera 7' which is well inside Indian territory although the Indian army statement said that the youth had 'inadvertently' crossed over to the Chinese side.
That China covets Arunachal Pradesh is no secret. The Indian state is referred to as 'Southern Tibet' in China and till date China does not recognize that the biggest state in the Northeast region belongs to India.
