GOI NON-PAPER ON MAJOR ARMS SEIZURES IN BANGLADESH

S E C R E T NEW DELHI 000878

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2015
TAGS: PTER PREL IN BG
SUBJECT: GOI NON-PAPER ON MAJOR ARMS SEIZURES IN BANGLADESH

REF: 04 NEW DELHI 5486

Classified By: PolCouns Geoff Pyatt, Reasons 1.5 (B,D).


1. (C) On January 27, MEA Director (Americas) Renu Pall gave
us the following non-paper list of 2003-04 arms seizures in
Bangladesh. This non-paper was originally referenced by our
GOI interlocutors during the August 31-September 1, 2004
US-India Counterterrorism Joint Working Group (CTJWG) meeting
in New Delhi.


2. (S) Begin lightly-edited text:

Title: "Recent Major Arms seizures in Bangladesh"

-- June 27, 2003: In Bogra 1,000,000 bullets and 200
kilograms of explosives were seized.

-- November 30, 2003: In Dhaka police recovered four AK-47
rifles, two revolvers, 20 hand grenades, four time bombs,
1,000 AK-47 bullets, 2 kilograms of plastic explosives, and
sophisticated walkie-talkies after a gun fight with a
criminal outfit.

-- September-October 2003: The Bangladesh Rifles recovered
five bombs, 130 kilograms of plastic explosives, 226 hand
grenades, 310 grenade launchers, 50 time-delay detonators,
and 14 containers of chemicals from the dense forests in
Bandarban.

-- April 2, 2004: The biggest arms seizure took place in
Chittagong. The weapons consisted of the following:

Submachine guns/AK-47s: 1,290
Magazines for submachine guns (Chinese and South Korean):
6,392
"Tommy" guns: 100
Semi-automatic spot rifle/Uzis: 400
Rocket launchers (40 mm),made in China: 150
Rockets (40 mm),made in China: 840
Grenade launchers, made in South Korea: 2,000
Hand grenades, made in South Korea: 25,000
Bullets (Chinese and South Korean) rounds: 1.84 million

-- April 26, 2004: Bangladeshi security agencies intercepted
a mini-bus with crates of arms and ammunition camouflaged
under cigarettes and watermelons on the Feni-Belonia route
close to the Tripura border. These arms are believed to be a
part of the April 2 seizure, which evaded detection.

End Text.

Comment
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3. (C) Pall made no request for USG action on the above
matter. In the context of our ongoing dialogue regarding
Bangladesh and CT cooperation, Mission would appreciate
Washington's perspective on the veracity of this data.
MULFORD