2004 Chittagong arms meant for ULFA, North East ultras

Contrary to recent claims made by former United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) leader Anup Chetia, the 10 trucks with arms confiscated in 2004 in Chittagong Port of Bangladesh were meant not only for ULFA but also other insurgent groups across northeast, including in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam, besides Rohingyas and Islamist extremists, said people familiar with the matter.

Rubbishing Chetia's claim that ULFA did not have any links with foreign intelligence forces, they said the armed separatist organisation has been guided and financed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for decades.

The BNP government, which ruled Bangladesh in alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami (now outlawed) from 1991-96 and from 2001-06, maintained close ties with Pakistan and aided ULFA's bases on Bangladesh territory, said the people. The BNP-Jamaat regime was also accused of aiding Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terrorist groups.


Chetia and other ULFA leaders, including Paresh Baruah and leaders from northeastern insurgent groups, operated out of Bangladesh for many years till Sheikh Hasina returned to power in 2008 and handed over the insurgent leaders to India in 2009.

The arms confiscated in Chittagong in 2004 were shipped from China and the entire operation was conducted by ISI, the people cited earlier said on condition of anonymity.

Chetia recently claimed that the arms which were attempted to be smuggled via Chittagong in 10 trucks in 2004 were not meant for ULFA but for other insurgent groups in the northeast. He also said that ULFA had no links with any foreign intelligence organisations.

Bangladesh's law enforcement agencies arrested the ULFA leader and two of his associates in Dhaka's Mohammadpur in 1997 when Hasina was in power for the first time. He was charged with an illegal stay in Bangladesh and holding unauthorised foreign currency and a satellite phone. A Dhaka court sentenced him to three, four and seven years in prison in three cases.

His sentence ended in 2007 but the top Assamese separatist leader was handed over to India in 2015 after being held in Bangladesh prisons for another eight years. He then spent a month behind bars in Assam before being released on bail.

ISI has been accused in the past of promoting cross-border terrorism, and funding and sheltering northeast insurgents through Bangladesh territory.

The arms were confiscated by a junior police official who was unaware of the role of local ministers in the episode and chanced upon the consignment.

A total of 4,930 different types of sophisticated firearms, 27,020 grenades, 840 rocket launchers, 300 rockets, 2,000 grenade launching tubes, 6,392 magazines and 1,140,520 bullets were seized when they were being loaded on ten trucks from two boats.

Boats had carried arms and ammunition from a Chinese ship in the Bay of Bengal, said the people. ULFA's top leader, Paresh Baruah, currently believed to be hiding in China, was the kingpin of the episode with ISI's assistance, according to the people. ISI had made elaborate plans to distribute arms and ammunition across the Northeast through ULFA, they said.