| Submit your comments on this article |
| Bangladesh |
| Missing grenades cause for concern |
| 2009-04-28 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] The mutineers of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) not only looted firearms, ammunition and explosives from the armoires of the border security force's headquarters, but also destroyed many of the ledger books making it difficult for investigators to make an estimate of missing weapons. The BDR authorities, and intelligence and other law-enforcing agencies are worried about the missing weapons, mainly about the grenades, as those might fall in the hands of terrorists and other criminals causing threats to the country's security. On April 21, the BDR authorities provided the media with an approximate detail of the looted firearms, but they could not provide any information about missing ammunition and explosives, although about two months had already elapsed since the mutiny on February 25 and 26. BDR sources said the mutineers broke into all arsenals of all sectors, battalions, and other units at the Pilkhana headquarters, and looted indiscriminately from all the units. According to the sources, separate ledgers of weapons are maintained by all sectors, battalions, and other units, and monthly returns about the weapons are sent to the Headquarters' Office which also forwards a copy to the central ordnance of the armed forces. BDR Director General (DG) Maj Gen Md Mainul Islam said, "We're trying to estimate how many arms and ammunition are missing, with back-up information from different sources, and we are hopeful we will be able to complete the estimation soon." But former BDR DG Lt Gen (retd) M Atiqur Rahman said, "It's impossible to know the exact figure, one could only imagine a figure." Talking to The Daily Star, both the incumbent and former DGs feared that the missing weapons might end up becoming a national security concern, which was echoed by intelligence and other law-enforcing agencies too. Col Rezanur Rahman Khan, additional directional general of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), told The Daily Star, "We still don't know the destinations of the missing weapons. If terrorists can lay their hands on the missing grenades that might become very dangerous, as they tend to use grenades for assassinations." "However we still don't know how many grenades are missing from Pilkhana," he added. An assistant superintendent of police (ASP) of the criminal investigation department, who is close to the investigation, said during interrogation, a number of captured mutineers admitted that they destroyed the ledgers of weapons in an effort to make it difficult for investigators to estimate the amount of looted weapons. Lt Gen (retd) M Atiqur Rahman said, "When I was the DG of BDR from December 15, 1977 to June 30, 1982, the army used to supply the required arms, ammunition and explosives to BDR with the approval of the home ministry. So it's possible to get back-up information from both sources." "The missing weapons could reach the hands of terrorists and other criminals, and could even be smuggled into neighbouring countries' separatists like the United Liberation Front of Assam," said Atiqur Rahman, adding, "The fugitive BDR men with weapons are trained persons. I'm afraid it will become very dangerous if they start using those." But Commerce Minister Lt Col (retd) Faruk Khan seemed to somewhat differ with the apprehension, saying, most of the missing weapons are small firearms, which might cause some social nuisances, but not any national security threat. He, however, declined to give out any detail about the missing ammunition and explosives and said, "We'll give out the detail after the next meeting of the investigation committee." The minister said, "It's not difficult to estimate the missing arms, ammunition, and explosives, as there are back-ups of the ledgers that were in Pilkhana." According to the BDR sources, apart from looking for back-up information, they are also checking all documents regarding the arms and ammunition purchased in the past. Talking to The Daily Star, the incumbent BDR DG, Maj Gen Md Mainul Islam, said, "It's easy to count the missing firearms, but regarding the ammunition we don't how many were used during the mutiny, and how many were taken out from Pilkhana by the fleeing mutineers." He also urged the people of the country to come forward with information for arrest of the fugitive BDR men, and for recovering the missing weapons, saying, "We've already supplied the details about the fugitives to all intelligence and law-enforcing agencies." Senior ASP Abdul Kahar Akand of CID, who is the investigation officer (IO) of the BDR mutiny case, said, "We're not sure whether the missing weapons have already reached the hands of terrorists and other criminals." He however added that it does not mean that all the missing weapons have already reached the hands of criminals, as some of those are still being found abandoned at different places in and out of Pilkhana. Replying to a question, he said they have been interrogating arrested BDR jawans abut the looted weapons. Azim Ahmed, director of the intelligence wing of Rab, told The Daily Star, "We've been working to detect the destinations of the missing weapons." Lt Gen (retd) M Atiqur Rahman said once looted weapons go underground, those tend to change hands. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Check the pickup trucks? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-04-28 09:19 |