GUWAHATI, June 4 � Confusion prevails over the recovery of large cache of weapons in Bangladesh yesterday as the Indian security agencies have not yet been able to ascertain whether those belonged to any militant outfit active in the North East region.
The Rapid Action Battalion personnel of Bangladesh had yesterday recovered huge cache of weapons and explosives from a hidden bunker in the jungles in the Satchhari area in Habibganj district. The weapons recovered include more than a hundred anti-tank weapons. The haul was reported to be the biggest since the recovery of ten truck loads of weapons in the Chittagong area in 2004.
Media reports in Bangladesh said that the weapons might have belonged to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) as the outfit had strong bases in that country till the Government took strong measures to evict the ultras from the bases and handed over key leaders to India.
However, the Indian security agencies are still not sure whether the weapons recovered yesterday belonged to the ULFA. Highly placed security sources told The Assam Tribune that the ULFA leaders who came over ground never spoke about the outfit stocking such weapons in Bangladesh. Sources revealed that from time to time, the communication between the ULFA leaders are intercepted, but in no such communication, the presence of such weapons in Bangladesh was mentioned.
Sources said that the ULFA never had strong presence in the area from where the weapons were recovered and according to information available, the militants belonging to the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) had strong presence in that area. But it is doubtful whether the ATTF kept the weapons there as the outfit never used such weapons in the past. The ATTF leaders, in their interrogations, also never mentioned anything about keeping such weapons in Bangladesh. The security agencies also did not have any input about those. However, the distant possibility of the ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah asking the ATTF to keep the weapons in that area cannot be ruled out. Sources further said that the possibility of some armed rebel group of Bangladesh keeping the weapons in that area also cannot be ruled out.
