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| Bangladesh |
| Indian rebel leaders were in Chittagong |
| 2009-03-08 |
| Military wing commander of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) Paresh Barua, Naga rebel leader Anthony Shimray and several more people were stationed in Chittagong by using fake names before the abortive Ulfa arms shipment in 2004. They checked in Hotel Golden Inn but left Chittagong immediately after the arms were seized, according to a report of the Bengali daily Prothom Alo. Principal accused of the case Hafizur Rahman alias Hafiz in his confessional statement said he was introduced with one Zaman before the 2001 election. Later, he came to know that the said Zaman was Ulfa military commander Paresh Barua. Zaman told Hafiz a huge consignment of machinery would land in Chittagong and he assigned him (Hafiz) to hire a trawler and decide on a jetty for offloading the delivery. Zaman also said they themselves would handle the rest. Paresh Barua assured him of not worrying about anything as chiefs of the National Security Intelligence (NSI) and Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) had already made all arrangements. As per the records of the Hotel Golden Inn register on Station Road in Chittagong where Ulfa operatives stayed, room-305 was allocated to Asif Zaman at 5:45am on March 28, 2004, just three days before offloading the arms cache. Asif Zaman's address was recorded as 97/5 Sher-e-Bangla Road, Mohammadpur, Dhaka. It is the same Zaman who actually went by the name of Paresh Barua. Asif was believed to be another fake name of an Ulfa leader. Anthony Davis in the August 1, 2004 issue of Janes Intelligence Review wrote Naga rebel leader Anthony Shimray also accompanied Paresh Barua when the arms were being offloaded in Chittagong. Anthony Shimray who is based in Manila in Philippines had flown to Chittagong via Bangkok around the time of the shipment. Proofs were found that Asif, Zaman, Abul Hossain, Shahidul Islam and several others believed to have been involved in offloading arms and ammunition rented rooms in Hotel Golden Inn during March 28-30 in 2004. They left the hotel never to return after the caches of weapon were seized in the morning of April 2. Shahidul Islam rented room-317 of the hotel at 5:45 on March 28, 2004. The address of this Islam was also shown as 97/5 Sher-e-Bangla Road, Mohammadpur, Dhaka meaning that Shahidul Islam and Zaman lived in the same address. Visit to the address in Dhaka reveals that none by the name of Shahidul Islam or Zaman had ever lived in that building. Four more youths checked in the Hotel Golden Inn at the dead of night of March 28, 2004. They are Farhad Ahmed (Gulshan, Dhaka, room no-314), M Rahman (12/10 Islampur, Dhaka, room no-207), Shafiqur Rahman (459/2 South Kafrul, Dhaka, room no-405) and Anisur Rahman (459/2 South Kafrul, Dhaka, room-505). Earlier 10 rooms of the hotel were rented for 20 Indian nationals; most of their addresses in the hotel register were shown as Babupara of Habra, West Bengal, India. They were not found in the room from the moment of the seizure of arms. Investigations also revealed that the register book in which the names of those allegedly involved in the arms smuggling were recorded, disappeared from the hotel. Hotel authorities said they sold the old register books with other odds and bits. But, a source close to the hotel management said intelligence agency men seized the register book six to seven months into the arms seizure. The hotel authorities, however, denied the matter. The investigation says Hafizur Rahman knew all about arms smuggling. Then chief of CID Chittagong region AKM Kabir Uddin and inspector Mohammad Shah Alam sent a review report on the arms haul to the CID headquarters in the last week of April in 2004. The report reads Hafizur Rahman is proved to have had link with the international smuggling network of Pakistan's largest intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The same report also goes on to say that Hafiz met a Pakistani at a room of Hotel Sundarban in Dhaka six months before the ten truckloads of arms seizure. After that Hafiz went to Pakistan, China, Rangoon (Myanmar) and Bangkok, sources close to Hafiz told the CID. |
| Posted by:Fred |