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| The January 5-11, 1997 issue of Sunday magazine, in which Peter Bleach had for the first time given his side of the story about the Purulia armsdrop |
On February 4, 2004, Peter Bleach walked out of Presidency jail a free man, thanks to a presidential pardon in the Purulia armsdrop case. Today, the former freelance arms dealer works “in the tourism business” in North Yorkshire.
The 59-year-old, who had earlier served in the British military intelligence in Belfast, fought in Rhodesia and worked as a private eye in Britain, replied to some questions emailed to him by The Telegraph on Friday.
Who were the arms being sent to and why?
I don’t know and I never have known. I was told by MI5 that the Indian government wanted the arms to enter India so that they could arrest the aircraft and interrogate the occupants to find out who the guns were for. With the benefit of hindsight, that was an obvious lie, but I did not know that at the time, and it influenced every decision I made.
Looking back, who do you think the arms were really meant for? Rebels in Northeast India? Bangladesh? Myanmar?
They were, I was told by Kim Davy, intended for use in West Bengal against the Communist government. The arms fell exactly where they were intended to fall. They just overshot the target a little bit and that is why they were found by others. If the pilot had flown at the right altitude they would have been bang on.
Who were the arms sent by and why?
Kim Davy was never the “mastermind” as alleged — he was asked to do this by politicians in Delhi. I don’t know the identity of those politicians, but if you look at the evidence given at the trial, you will see that the IAF radar station at Kalaikunda was switched off that night and that night only (December 17, 1995).
Kim Davy knew that in advance, and that is why he insisted on going ahead that night. You have to ask who has the power to have that radar station switched off. That is a very high-level influence.
When it all went wrong, the CBI put huge resources into covering up what really happened. From the moment I received my chargesheet, I KNEW that there was a massive cover-up going on, both in Delhi and in London.
MI5 worked closely with the Indian authorities in trying to conceal what had happened…. They tried very hard indeed to get me hanged, and it was a close thing.
Which security agencies in Britain knew about the armsdrop from you and why didn’t they stop you?
It is no secret that MI5 knew about this the day after my first meeting with Kim Davy in Copenhagen. They also passed the information on to their Indian counterparts. The reason that none of them took any action to stop this operation is that the Indian government wanted the operation to go ahead. I was told that it was to be a trap for Kim Davy and his co-conspirators, and that was a lie. That lie cost me eight years in jail.
Why was the arms drop off the mark that night?
Kim Davy knew very well that the radar was switched off that night, and that was why he had to go through with the operation despite the fact that it had been delayed. The drop could only have been properly successful if it had been carried out at dusk. It went wrong because it was done after it was already fully dark.
The reason that it went wrong is that the pilot flew at 3,000 metres instead of 3,000 feet — he was too high. But because it was dark, nobody realised this, consequently the cargo overshot the drop zone.
Did you see Davy walk free at Mumbai airport?
No, I didn’t see him leave the airport. I was still with the aircraft by the side of the main runway when he went to the terminal to pay for the fuel, etc. But don’t forget we were told to land because of a confusion over flight plans. This aircraft was NOT suspected to have been involved with Purulia and Davy would have been free to go anywhere he wanted. It was several hours later when I was being questioned inside the terminal that I told the investigators that this was the Purulia aircraft. By then Davy was long gone.
If this was a high-level conspiracy or cover-up involving some Indian and British government officials why were you arrested and then confined for eight years?
I was a convenient scapegoat. They had to have somebody, and a middle-aged British arms dealer made a very good scapegoat! It was thought that if I was locked up in a jail cell in Calcutta I would soon be forgotten about. I knew that my only way out was to create a situation where it was more trouble to keep me in jail than it was to let me out. And in the end, that is what happened.
Why has Davy broken his silence now?
Kim Davy knows that his only safe option now is to tell what he knows on the record. Something has happened in Delhi — for years they have not wanted Kim Davy anywhere near an Indian court. Now, suddenly there is a massive effort to get him back.
Clearly there has been a shift in the balance of power somewhere, and perhaps old scores are being settled. But the people who arranged this were pretty powerful people, and whilst they may no longer be at the heart of power in Delhi, they are not without influence.
What is your conclusion on the Purulia matter?
Both Britain and India are proud of being democracies, but in the Purulia matter there has been a serious breach of trust in both countries. Even if only 1% of Davy’s allegations are true, it is a very, very serious matter indeed. The people of India deserve to know the truth of what happened here.
What question do you want to ask Peter Bleach? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com