Maoists buying arms from Chinese mafia, says Pillai

NEW DELHI: The Maoists may be sourcing their arms from the Chinese mafia, Union home secretary G K Pillai said here on Sunday. ���Chinese are big smugglers-suppliers of small arms...I am sure that the Maoists also get them,��� he told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar here.

Mr Pillai, however, clarified that the government had no information if the Maoists��� links with China went beyond the supply of arms by its mafia. ���I don���t think so, except getting arms,��� he said when asked about the CPI (Maoist)���s Chinese connection.

The Chinese arms-supplier mafia has clients in several conflict theatres across south Asia. In India, some of the north-eastern insurgency outfits are known to source their arms through the Myanmar route by tapping the Chinese mafia. Even though Naxalites claim to arm their militia only with weapons looted from the security forces, they are now in possession of sophisticated arms, including AK-47s, UMGs, GPMGs, Picca and sniper rifles, mostly sourced from the black market.

Asked about the link between the Nepali Maoists and the CPI (Maoist), Mr Pillai said there was no clear proof to show that the former were providing arms to their Indian counterparts. ���There are differences between them...while Nepali Maoists have joined mainstream politics, Indian Maoists have not,��� he noted.