Habiganj Arms Haul: Crackdown On Terrorism Continues

The very next day, in their continued operations in Satchhari jungles, RAB apprehended another cache of arms and ammunitions. On that date, RAB recovered 56 anti-artillery shells, 633 bullets for SMGs and a machine gun barrel. In total, the extended operations saw security forces recovering a rocket launcher, 4 machineguns, a rifle, 5 machinegun barrels, 222 anti-tank weapons with 248 charges, 19 machinegun drum chains, 19 magazines, 12987 bullets of various kinds and large amounts of weapons lubricant.

Experts from India have opined that there is a very high likelihood that All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTA) and United Liberation Front for Assam (ULFA) are involved in the illicit possession, trafficking and use of such arms and ammunitions in that particular geographical region.

Another reason for making the connection with these regional terrorists from India and the ammunitions haul in Habiganj is the similarity between the contents of the current haul and the sensational ten trucks arms haul of 2004 from Chittagong. According to the Spokesperson of RAB, TM Habibur Rahman the recovered ammunitions are similar to the truck-full of bullets recovered in Bogra in 2003, and the Chittagong ten-truck arms haul in 2004.

Chittagong ten trucks arms haul 

In the early hours of April 2, 2004, huge quantities of American, Israeli and Chinese made arms and ammunitions were seized by local law enforcers from two vessels at the Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd (“CUFL”) jetty in Chittagong. The cache of weapons consisted of 4,930 sophisticated firearms of different types, 840 rocket launchers, 300 rockets, 27,020 grenades, 2,000 grenade-launching tubes, 6,392 magazines and 11.41 million bullets.
According to Jane’s Intelligence Review, a leading global defence magazine, the weapons had been shipped from Hong Kong initially; then more weapons were added to the consignment in Singapore before being brought to Bangladesh, which was to serve as a stopover on their way to the final destination, India’s restive northeast, for use by separatists United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM).

On 30 January 2014, after a trial following five separate rounds of investigation (with four of the investigating officers being replaced for flawed investigations), and close to ten years since the incident, Chittagong Metropolitan Special Tribunal pronounced verdict and sentence in the two cases filed in connection with the arms haul. 14 of the accused were awarded the capital punishment for smuggling of arms, including former Minister and Jamaat Ameer, Motiur Rahman Nizami, former BNP State Minister for Home Affairs, Lutfuzzaman Babor, ULFA’s military wing chief Paresh Barua and a number of high ranking bureaucrats and intelligence officials of the erstwhile BNP Jamaat government. Each of the 14 also received life imprisonment and 7 years imprisonment, for charges relating to illegal possession of firearms and ammunitions respectively.

Other major arms and ammo hauls

During the BNP-Jamaat administration of 2001-2006, various regions of Bangladesh were used by local, regional and international terrorist and separatist outfits for transiting arms and ammunitions and breaching the peace of Bangladesh and its neighbouring countries. Bangladesh saw at least a dozen high-profile seizures of arms, ammunition and explosives during this period.

A cache of 99,999 rounds of bullets and 174 kilograms of RDX explosives were recovered in Kahalu and Dupchachia areas of Bogra district in June 2003. 4 AK-47 rifles, 20 grenades and two kilograms of plastic explosives were recovered at Kuril Badda of Dhaka in November of the same year. More than 100 firearms, including M-16 and AK-47 rifles, rocket launchers and submachine guns and a few hundred grenades and several thousand bullets were seized in raids in the dense forests of Bandarban and Rangamati from July 2002 to March 2004.

In a drive in Naikkhongchhari of Bandarban in November 2004, security forces recovered 14 firearms, including seven AK-47 rifles and two M-16 rifles, and around 3,000 rounds of ammunition. They also recovered 16 firearms, including eight AK-47 rifles and eight light machineguns and 4,000 rounds of bullets at Jaruliachhari of the same district in December of 2004.

Since 2009 however, after the Awami League led grand coalition government took office, terrorists, whether local, regional or international, are finding it extremely difficult to, consider Bangladesh a safe haven (whether for hiding or smuggling arms or launching attacks here or elsewhere). This recent haul is just another example of the current government’s continued efforts in cracking down on subversion and terrorism of all kinds using its lands.

It is now widely accepted that as far as Indian separatists of Tripura and Assam are concerned, they can no longer use the Bangladeshi territories to carry out destructive activities in India, bringing relative peace and stability in the east and north eastern states. Given the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s personal and the current government’s collective resolve in this regard, it can safely be concluded that terrorists and agents of anarchy will continue to find it impossible to use the territories of Bangladesh for subversive purposes.