
MOULVIBAZAR: Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) recovered a cache of huge firearms and ammunition from Satchhari reserve forest of the district bordering Tripura state of neighboring India on Tuesday morning.
Addressing a press conference at RAB-9 Srimangal Camp at Habiganj road in Srimongal upazila in Moulvibazar district on Tuesday noon, Colonel Mufti Mahmud Khan, Director of Legal and Media Wing of RAB, claimed that nine Sub Machine Guns (SMG), 1 MMG, one Beta Gun, one 7.62 bore auto rifle, six Self Loading Rifles (SLR), two Light Machine Guns (LMG), one Sniper Telescope Sight and 2,400 rounds of ammunition were recovered from deep inside the forest.
The firearms and ammunition were found in two containers kept inside two holes of the forest.
Colonel Mufti Mahmud Khan said the firearms and ammunition were recovered conducting the drive since August 29 last.
Replying to a question, Mufti Mahmud said they would continue to make such drives and investigate the arms haul to find out who were behind accumulating arms in the forest and where these arms come from and where to go.
It may be mentioned here that recently RAB conducted several arms busts from the Satchhari forest saying that the arms were smuggled into the country by Indian separatist groups.
Earlier on June 3 this year, RAB members found rocket launchers, four machine-guns, a rifle, five machine gun barrels, 222 anti-tank weapons with 248 charges, 19 machine gun drum chains, 19 magazines, 12,987 bullets of various kinds and weapon lubricants searching the forest for several days.
In another drive, 633 rounds of 7.62 mm bullets, 54 rounds of 12.54 mm bullets, 37-inch long barrel of a machinegun were recovered from the forest on June 9.
TF/ZA