NEW DELHI, Nov 11 � In a sensational disclosure, the outlawed ULFA and the embassy of a South Asian country are said to have paid Rs 450 crore to higher-ups of the BNP-led four-party alliance government and intelligence agencies for safe transshipment of 10 truckloads of arms seized in Chittagong in 2004.
According to media reports in Bangladesh, detained former Home Minister Lutfozzaman Babar, who is on a five-day remand, gave the information during interrogation at the Malibagh head office of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Babar though denied receiving any share of the amount, the reports quoting officials of the CID that is probing the cases, said.
The former state minister claimed he knew everything but could not interfere in the matter as it was at the hands of �higher authorities.� Babar had to execute their orders, said the CID official quoting him.
�Babar remained silent when he was asked about the higher authorities,� said the intelligence official.
Former home secretary Omar Faruk, DGFI director Brig Gen Rezzaqul Haider Chowdhury, NSI director general Brig Gen (Retd) Md Abdur Rahim, director (security) wing commander (retd) Sahabuddin Ahmed, DIG (Special Branch) Shamsul Islam, DIG (CID) Farrukh Ahmed, NSI director Brig Gen Enamur Rahman, and CMP commissioner SM Sabbir Ali had earlier made confessions before the court.
Ten truckloads of submachine guns, AK-47 assault rifles, other firearms and bullets were seized at the Karnaphuli coast in Chittagong on April 2, 2004. The weapons that were enough to arm several divisions of the army were bought from a Chinese arms manufacturer and shipped from Honk Kong to Bangladesh for onward transportation to Assam.
