43,000 bullets seized in Sherpur hillock

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in a drive recovered a huge cache of firearms and ammunition from a hillock at Kalapani in Bhurunga border area of Nalitabari upazila early yesterday, reports UNB. Tipped off, a team of Rab-5, led by its commanding officer Lt Col Mahbub Alam conducted the drive in Chengbandha area along Bhurunga border and dug out the buried arms and ammunition, said Rab legal aid and media wing director Mufti Mahmud Khan. Mahmud said the elite force detected the arms and ammunition with a metal detector and dug out 43,000 bullets, two sniper rifles, 2,000 anti-aircraft missiles, six walki-talkies, 37 magazines, two chargers and some military equipment from four separate spots. The Rab members launched the drive at 3 am and it was on till filing of the report around 17.30pm, he said. Besides, Director of Rab intelligence wing Squadron Leader Abul Kalam Azad said the drive was conducted over a 2-km area. All the arms and ammunition were kept in some plastic drums wrapped with polythene, he said. However, it was not clear yet who had stockpiled the arms there, but locals suspected that the seized arms and ammo belong to United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa), an Indian separatist group. Earlier in 2004, the elite force in a drive recovered 29,000 bullets from Jhenigati upazila, while police arrested six Ulfa leaders along with seven firearms from the Bhurunga border area in 2003.

 

43,000 bullets seized in Sherpur hillock

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in a drive recovered a huge cache of firearms and ammunition from a hillock at Kalapani in Bhurunga border area of Nalitabari upazila early yesterday, reports UNB. Tipped off, a team of Rab-5, led by its commanding officer Lt Col Mahbub Alam conducted the drive in Chengbandha area along Bhurunga border and dug out the buried arms and ammunition, said Rab legal aid and media wing director Mufti Mahmud Khan. Mahmud said the elite force detected the arms and ammunition with a metal detector and dug out 43,000 bullets, two sniper rifles, 2,000 anti-aircraft missiles, six walki-talkies, 37 magazines, two chargers and some military equipment from four separate spots. The Rab members launched the drive at 3 am and it was on till filing of the report around 17.30pm, he said. Besides, Director of Rab intelligence wing Squadron Leader Abul Kalam Azad said the drive was conducted over a 2-km area. All the arms and ammunition were kept in some plastic drums wrapped with polythene, he said. However, it was not clear yet who had stockpiled the arms there, but locals suspected that the seized arms and ammo belong to United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa), an Indian separatist group. Earlier in 2004, the elite force in a drive recovered 29,000 bullets from Jhenigati upazila, while police arrested six Ulfa leaders along with seven firearms from the Bhurunga border area in 2003.