Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

NE ultras changing arms routes

By R Dutta Choudhury

GUWAHATI, March 24 � With the improvement of relation between India and Bangladesh, the militant groups have changed their routes to bring in weapons and explosives to the North East region of India. The militant groups of the region do not have any shortage of weapons but they are facing shortage of ammunition, highly-placed security sources said.

Sources told The Assam Tribune that the militant groups have stopped bringing in weapons through Bangladesh and most of the weapons are now brought into the region through Myanmar where most of the militant groups of the region have their strong bases. The weapons are brought through different routes along the India-Myanmar border and though Mizoram is now one of the most peaceful states, the militants are also bringing in weapons through that state. In recent times, Dimapur has become one of the hubs for transactions for weapons, sources added.

The militant groups of the region including the hardline faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) now have abundance of weapons including sophisticated weapons like AK series rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers, etc. and most of the weapons are manufactured in China. In recent times, some weapons manufactured in European countries were also recovered from militants, but there are reasons to believe that those were, in fact, manufactured in China and only the stamps of European countries were put on the same.

The Government of India took up the issue with China on several occasions but the Chinese authorities always denied the same.

Sources said that the militant groups are facing shortage of ammunition for the weapons and that fact came to light during interception of communication of the militant leaders on several occasions.

The militant groups also have explosive materials and in this regard also, the militant groups have started changing their tactics. Sources said that the militant groups including the hardline faction of the ULFA managed to procure remote controlled improvised explosive devices manufactured in China. But those bombs were found to be unreliable after several failed attacks and the ultras have started manufacturing IEDs themselves by procuring explosives from different sources.

On a number of occasions, RDX was used but the fact remains that RDX is manufactured in Pakistan and China and not in India. But the possibility of pilferage of other explosives like the TNT from the stone queries and construction project sites cannot be ruled out.

The militant groups have also managed to bring in number of grenades and the communication intercepts also proved the fact, sources said.

Next Story