Huge arms haul in Habiganj

RAB has unearthed a huge arms cache in Satchharhi jungles of Habiganj's Chunarughat Upazila from what was once perhaps the headquarters of the now-weakened All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF).

Around 200 high explosive anti-tank weapons with as many chargers were recovered in a daylong drive in the Satchharhi hill, RAB’s Additional Director General (operations) Col Ziaul Ahsan said.

There might be more ammo, he said.

The recovery at Satchharhi on Tuesday is perhaps the single biggest case of arms seizure since the 2004 Chittagong arms case.

The huge cache was found inside bunkers dug in deep holes in the hillock, the official said.

The source of the ammo will be known after further investigation, he said.
 

The RAB officials were preparing to conduct the drive for several days in Satchharhi, barely 3 kms from the border with India's Tripura state.

Around 100 RAB personnel conducted the raid at the 100-foot hillock with dogs.

RAB's Col Ahsan and Legal-Media director Wing Commander Habibur Rahman oversaw the raid.

The officials called off the drive for Tuesday as daylight faded, Col Ahsan told bdnews24.com on his way back to Dhaka.

The drive will resume on Wednesday morning, he said.

He said they had found 184 high explosive anti-tank weapons and 154 chargers.

The drive was launched on a tip-off, RAB official Habib told reporters in Satchharhi.

RAB’s network signal detected the signal of arms inside the bunkers, he said.

Of the two hillocks, there were two wells in the one and five in the other. There was more than one bunker in each well, the RAB official said.

Several houses were there on the hilltop, but there were only women and children in the houses, no man was found there, Col Ahsan said.

RAB official Rahman said, “It's assumed that a third of the arms cache has already been seized.”

The ATTF is now weakened and its chief Ranjit Debbarma is now standing trial in his home state Tripura on countless charges of murder and abduction.

Debbarma, who is said to be handed over to India by Bangladesh after being arrested in Jan 2013, is very close to ULFA military wing chief Paresh Barua.

Ranjit Debbarma (File Photo)

ATTF militants (File Photo)

Barua , who has been awarded a death sentence in the 2004 Chittagong arms cases, is believed to be hiding somewhere around Tengchong in the Sino-Burmese border.

The ULFA and ATTF would smuggle a huge quantity of Chinese-made weapons through Southeast Asia by sea, land them around Cox's Bazar or Chittagong and take them to rebel bases like Satchharhi, from where they would be smuggled into India's troubled northeast.

(Additional reporting by Syed Bashir)