http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040405/asp/nation/story_3087877.asp##
The Telegraph, 5 April 2004
SEKHAR DATTA
Agartala, April 4: Last week's arms haul in Bangladesh was made possible
by "pro-India elements" in the neighbour country, according to police
here.
"It was the pro-Indian elements among the people (in Bangladesh) who had
given information leading to the seizure of the massive cache of arms
and ammunition on the eastern fringes of Chittagong town,"
director-general of police G.M. Srivastava said today.
The arsenal of 10,000 weapons, including AK-47s, 5,000 grenades and
300,000 rounds of ammunition was found in the Bangladesh port city on
Friday.
Ending speculation on the likely destination of the arms, Srivastava
said he had concrete information these were meant for distribution among
militant outfits of India's Northeast.
"It was on March 16 that a meeting of insurgent leaders had been held in
Bangkok under the auspices of the ISI (Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence), and therein it was finalised," the officer said. The
meeting, he asserted, decided to send two major consignments of arms and
ammunition to Northeast militants based in Bangladesh through Chittagong
port or Cox Bazar.
Top leaders of five major outfits, including Ranjit Debbarma of the All
Tripura Tiger Force, were present; Ulfa chief Paresh Barua was
represented by deputy Raju Barua, Srivastava added.
Bangladesh police, he said, are yet to reveal that they have over the
past two days arrested 16 activists of the ATTF, Ulfa, National
Liberation Front of Tripura, and People's Liberation Army and Kanglei
Yawol Kanna Lup of Manipur.
"Making this public will amount to official admission of the presence of
anti-Indian militants on Bangladesh soil."
Refusing to disclose the identity of the "pro-Indian elements" for
the
sake of their security, Srivastava said they informed the Rapid Action
Battalion of Bangladesh after seeing the consignment being unloaded.
The RAB, an elite commando force, was beyond manipulation as it
comprises recruits from the army, police and the Bangladesh Rifles, the
officer said.
Military experts in Dhaka ruled out the cache was meant for Bangladesh
though its government claimed it was brought to create internal chaos,
reports PTI.
"The consignment was not destined for Bangladesh as there is no such
organised clandestine group in the country capable of bringing in,
managing and storing such huge volume of arms and ammunition," Brigadier
Shahidul Anam Khan, said. He is a former chief of the Bangladesh
International Institute of Strategic Studies.
"It is a million-dollar question whether the consignment was brought in
for use in Bangladesh or the country was used just as transit," former
government adviser Major General Mainul Hossain Chowdhury said.
Srivastava said part of the consignment would have gone to
fundamentalist elements in Bangladesh. Media reports in Dhaka said the
smugglers were seen unloading the haul in Chittagong port city "with the
help or in the presence of local police", says PTI.
The owners and sailors of two trawlers that carried the arms have not
been arrested yet though an inquiry committee has been set up, the
reports added. "I know he owns two sea trawlers and I would not be
surprised if his own trawlers had been used to send the arms and
ammunition," Srivastava said referring to Paresh Barua.