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| Bangladesh |
| 209 BDR grenades found missing |
| 2009-04-30 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] Two months after the BDR carnage, the authorities concerned made the final tally of arms, ammunition and explosives that went missing from the Pilkhana headquarters. They say that 119 firearms, including officers' side arms, rifles and machine guns, one rocket propelled grenade (RPG) and five mortar shells still remain traceless. Over 45,000 bullets and 209 grenades also went missing from the arsenals of BDR headquarters. It is yet to be known how many of these weapons and how much ammunition the mutineers used during the February 25-26 carnage, sources in Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) said. However, there is still doubt about the accuracy of this tally of missing arms and ammunition since the mutineers destroyed almost all logs and relevant documents at the arsenal. Of the 45,000 bullets, 41,733 were of sub-machineguns (SMG) and light machineguns (LMG), 1,485 were of machineguns, 1,712 of pistols, and 141 bullets of sub-machine carbines (SMC). "Some of the ammunition and explosives were used inside Pilkhana during the mutiny, which means the rest were taken away by the mutineers," said a BDR official requesting anonymity. There is a strong possibility that the missing arms and ammunition could fall in the hands of militants and criminals, posing a serious security threat to the country, the BDR director general said earlier. Apart from Pilkhana, a good number of firearms, ammunition and explosives went missing from other BDR sector and battalion headquarters across the country. BDR Director General Maj Gen Md Mainul Islam told The Daily Star over telephone last night, "It is impossible to accurately say how much ammunition the mutineers used and how much was taken away." He said some of the missing grenades were used during the mutiny at Pilkhana. He, however, could not say whether mortar shells were used inside the BDR headquarters or they were taken away. Commerce Minister Faruk Khan, chief of a committee that coordinates probe into the Pilkhana carnage by different ministries, said the tally of firearms and ammunition missing from other BDR units will also be prepared. DESERTER BDR MEN The number of deserter BDR members now stands at 57, sources said. The number shrunk as BDR jawans joined different BDR units and following arrest of BDR men across the country. However, the BDR DG could not give the exact number of deserters yesterday. He said a few days ago they handed over a list of 78 deserters to the New Market Police Station. The government on April 7 declared Tk 50,000 bounty on each fugitive BDR jawan. Our court correspondent adds: Two more BDR members yesterday confessed to their involvement in the Pilkhana carnage while 50 others were shown arrested in the case. Two of them were placed on five-day remand each. The rest were sent to jail. BDR men who confessed to their involvement are sepoys Al Masum and Zakaria. Sepoys Renel Chakma and Neon Marma were placed on remand. The CID, which is investigating the case, also produced 21 suspected BDR mutineers before the court on completion of their remands. They were sent to jail as well. With the latest arrests, the total number of arrestees in the case stands at 1,329. Besides, 52 BDR jawans have so far made confessional statements. PROBE REPORT TO BE PLACED AT JS Commerce Minister Faruk Khan told BBC Bangla Service radio yesterday that people would come to know about the report of the national committee formed to probe the BDR carnage through parliament. He, however, said the findings of the investigation being conducted by the army would not be made public. The deadline for submission of the national committee report expires on May 11. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 If they're "found", how can they be "missing"? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-04-30 09:19 |