Indian arms handler held in Bangladesh

The Border Security Force (BSF) is to seek information from its Bangladeshi counterpart over the detention of an Indian arms handler in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Border Guards, Bangladesh (BGB), had arrested a resident of Sabroom in south Tripura, along with two other suspects, at Matiranga area of the hill tracts.

The detainee has been identified as Gautam Tripura of Beltali locality in Sabroom. Reports suggest that he and his accomplices Laxmi Chakma and Ramchandra Chakma used to procure arms from Myanmar and smuggle them to the Chittagong Hill Tracts, in which several Indian extremist groups are running training camps.

A BSF official on condition of anonymity said on Monday that Gautam could provide vital information on the arms racket active in Myanmar, Mizoram, Tripura and the hill tracts of Bangladesh. He said they would contact the BGB to seek information on Gautam who is lodged at the Matiranga police station under Kagracharri district.

A report from Bangladesh claimed that the detainees had confessed to their frequent cross-border movements to acquire weapons. BSF and Indian intelligence agencies expect a link to the arrests with the recovery of huge cache of weapons near Aizawl, capital of Mizoram, on March 8 this year.