The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) continued their hunt for arms and ammunitions at Satchhari National Park at Chunarughat in Habiganj for third consecutive day on Thursday.The RAB members were digging holes in two places in the dense forest suspecting that there might be more hidden bunkers in the jungle. Earlier, they discovered at least nine bunkers in the forest. However, no fresh cache of arms and ammunitions was detected on Thursday. Since Tuesday, the RAB personnel recovered about 200 rocket launchers and 200 mortar shells, in addition to machine guns, and huge quantity of ammunitions from the bunkers. A team from the RAB Headquarters joined the operation with the RAB-9 along with scores of police members. RAB’s additional director general Ziaul Ahsan, who is leading the drive, said that they would continue the drive for more days if needed. Meanwhile, Indian Bengali daily ‘Ananda Bazar’ reported that the RAB has been conducting the drive in the forest following Indian intelligence agency’s information. It also reported that the huge cache of illegal arms and ammunition recovered from the forest belonged to the chief of United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) Paresh Barua, who faces death penalty in Bangladesh in connection with 10-truck arms smuggling. “The Bangladesh government recovered those on receiving information gleaned by Indian intelligence agencies from Ranjit Dev Barma, a leader of the separatist group All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF), and provided to Bangladesh government,” the report added. Several other Indian media reported that that the arms and ammunitions recovered from the forest belonged to the ULFA chief Paresh Barua. The Indian Express in its June 5 edition reported that the recovery of the arms and ammunitions has been linked to at least two Northeast insurgent outfits -ATTF and ULFA.However, Director General of the RAB, Md Mukhlesur Rahman denied the claim of the ‘Ananda Bazar’. RAB is not sure who stored the ammunition there. The bunkers seem to have been built years ago, he said. He also said that the arms haul was based on the intelligence of local agencies. The reserve forest is far about three kilometres from the Indian state of Tripura. Sources said that Indian separatist groups used the bordering forest area for shelter and as a training camp in the past.ATM Habibur Rahman, Media Wing Commander of the RAB, said that the Indian separatist groups might have link with stocking arms.
