Agartala, April 4: Last week’s arms haul in Bangladesh was made possible by “pro-India elements” in the neighbour country, according to police here.

“It was the pro-Indian elements among the people (in Bangladesh) who had given information leading to the seizure of the massive cache of arms and ammunition on the eastern fringes of Chittagong town,” director-general of police G.M. Srivastava said today.

The arsenal of 10,000 weapons, including AK-47s, 5,000 grenades and 300,000 rounds of ammunition was found in the Bangladesh port city on Friday.

Ending speculation on the likely destination of the arms, Srivastava said he had concrete information these were meant for distribution among militant outfits of India’s Northeast.

“It was on March 16 that a meeting of insurgent leaders had been held in Bangkok under the auspices of the ISI (Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence), and therein it was finalised,” the officer said. The meeting, he asserted, decided to send two major consignments of arms and ammunition to Northeast militants based in Bangladesh through Chittagong port or Cox Bazar.

Top leaders of five major outfits, including Ranjit Debbarma of the All Tripura Tiger Force, were present; Ulfa chief Paresh Barua was represented by deputy Raju Barua, Srivastava added.

Bangladesh police, he said, are yet to reveal that they have over the past two days arrested 16 activists of the ATTF, Ulfa, National Liberation Front of Tripura, and People’s Liberation Army and Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup of Manipur.

“Making this public will amount to official admission of the presence of anti-Indian militants on Bangladesh soil.”

Refusing to disclose the identity of the “pro-Indian elements” for the sake of their security, Srivastava said they informed the Rapid Action Battalion of Bangladesh after seeing the consignment being unloaded.

The RAB, an elite commando force, was beyond manipulation as it comprises recruits from the army, police and the Bangladesh Rifles, the officer said.

Military experts in Dhaka ruled out the cache was meant for Bangladesh though its government claimed it was brought to create internal chaos, reports PTI.

“The consignment was not destined for Bangladesh as there is no such organised clandestine group in the country capable of bringing in, managing and storing such huge volume of arms and ammunition,” Brigadier Shahidul Anam Khan, said. He is a former chief of the Bangladesh International Institute of Strategic Studies.

“It is a million-dollar question whether the consignment was brought in for use in Bangladesh or the country was used just as transit,” former government adviser Major General Mainul Hossain Chowdhury said.

Srivastava said part of the consignment would have gone to fundamentalist elements in Bangladesh. Media reports in Dhaka said the smugglers were seen unloading the haul in Chittagong port city “with the help or in the presence of local police”, says PTI.

The owners and sailors of two trawlers that carried the arms have not been arrested yet though an inquiry committee has been set up, the reports added. “I know he owns two sea trawlers and I would not be surprised if his own trawlers had been used to send the arms and ammunition,” Srivastava said referring to Paresh Barua.