India has deplored the inability of the Bangladesh government to trace the source, destination and the people behind the huge arms haul in Chittagong April 2, report agencies.
The seizure at a time when India is in election mode has Indian intelligence agencies in a tizzy, though reports in the Bangladesh media say the weapons were more likely to be used to foment domestic violence rather than in neighbouring India.
A Delhi daily quoted a senior Indian offocial as saying that "Those weapons were destined for use in our country. We have a right to know who were involved. Unless that happens, there will be little contact between us."
According to the official list released by security agencies in Dhaka, over 4,930 different types of sophisticated firearms were seized from 10 big trucks in Chittagong port on April 2. These included 27,020 hand grenades, 840 rockets, 300 accessories of rocket launchers, 2,000 grenade launching tubes, 6,392 magazines and 11,40,520 rounds of ammunition that were stuffed in 1,463 wooden boxes.
Three other arms laden trucks are suspected to have left the port before the police and coast guard raided the area acting on a tip off. The arms had been transferred from three trawlers which in turn had received the consignment from a large ship further out at sea.
Ruling out the possibility of these arms being meant for insurgents in a "third country", State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar said "We are confirmed, on the basis of preliminary reports, that these arms and ammunition were carried to Bangladesh for domestic use."
But Indian intelligence sources believe that the consignment could have been meant for the rebels operating in the northeast of the country, whose armory had been severely dented by the raids which evicted them from their bases in Bhutan late last year.
PTI quoted the Tripura Director-General of Police, G M Srivastava, as saying the arms were supposed to be delivered to different militant outfits of the region.
Just after 'Operation All Clear' in Bhutan, representatives of ULFA, ATTF and some other insurgent organisations went to Bangkok from Bangladesh and made a deal of sending arms to Northeast through Chittagong port, Srivastava said. He also claimed that 16 militants belonging to United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), People's Liberation Army (PLA) and Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) of Manipur and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) were arrested during the arms haul but the Bangladesh police had kept it a secret, PTI said.
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