A huge cache of illegal arms and ammunition, including more than 150 rocket launchers, were recovered from a forest at Chunarughat upazila in Hobiganj near Indian border on Tuesday. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) recovered the arms and ammunition from the jungles (forest) of the Satchhari National Park.
RAB officials said they found the arms and ammunition in the forest following two days search on the basis of a tip-off. The elite force recovered at least 184 rocket launchers with 153 chargers, some anti-tank and mortar shells, more than 200 mortar shells and many other weapons from several bunkers.
The weapons were found in different bunkers located on the hilltop overlooking the forest. The RAB personnel started the drive there on Sunday night. However, RAB could not arrest anyone in this connection till the filing of the report on Tuesday night.
ATM Habibur Rahman, Director of Legal and Media Wing of the RAB, said that seven bunkers were found during the drive. The RAB members were searching for more ammunition. RAB will continue the drive for some more days to recover arms and ammunition from the forest and its adjoining
areas, he added.
He also said that RAB intelligence wing had kept vigil in Tepra slum and its adjoining areas bordering Satchhari for long.
During the long surveillance, RAB became certain that arms and ammunition were stored in hidden bunkers. On information, a large number of RAB personnel took position in the deep forest 3-4 days ago and took control of the area, he said.
RAB -9 and RAB Headquarters jointly conducted the drive led by Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan, Director of RAB’s intelligence wing. During the drive, bomb disposal experts of RAB detected the bunkers. Later, they entered the bunkers removing earth and recovered the arms and ammunition.
Kamrul Amin , Superintendent of Police (SP) Hobiganj talking to The New Nation on Tuesday night said that it was still difficult to give the details of the arms and ammunition recovered in the drive. The drive for recovery of arms in the bunkers of the forest, he said, would continue for a few more days till the search in the area is complete. He said it is believed that more arms and ammunition might be found in the forest. The police, he said, was extending its total cooperation to RAB in this regard. He said he himself had been to the forest during the drives. bdnews24.com, a news agency, reported that the RAB suspects a huge amount of explosives might be found in the area, which the dog squad is giving a notion about. Ziaul Ahsan said that more than 100 RAB personnel were involved in the operations and while two bunkers were located on one hilltop, five were located on a second hill. But he declined to comment when asked who had stocked this quantity of weapons at such a remote hill region.
ATM Habibur Rahman said almost one-third of the weapons stocked in the bunkers were recovered but more could be found. Hi-tech detectors used by RAB were indicating to more weapons in the hilltops. The operation will continue for at least two more days, he added.
Satchharhi is barely 3 kms from the border with India’s Tripura state, what was once perhaps the headquarters of the now-weakened All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF). The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in the past used the ATTF’s Satchharhi base to stock up weapons that were finally smuggled into Northeast India for use by their fighters. The recovery at Satchharhi on Tuesday is perhaps the single biggest case of arms seizures since the 2004 Chittagong arms case.
Biggest ever arms cache unearthed
