Joint forces seized the largest ever consignment of AK-47 rifles and other firearms in a predawn swoop on the bank of Karnaphuli River in Chittagong yesterday. A top police officer, declining to be named, linked the cache to an international syndicate of arms racketeers.

A private news agency quoted former army general Syed M Ibrahim as saying Chittagong is relatively an easy point for gunrunning that also takes place through hill districts.

In June last year, the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) recovered a huge cache of arms, ammunition and high-frequency communication devices from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) that has a 172km border with India and Myanmar.

A large number of firearms with ammunition and explosives were seized in 10 hauls by the army and BDR in three CHT districts -- Bandarban, Khagrachhari and Rangamati last year. The arms and explosives included sophisticated antiaircraft machineguns, rocket launchers, grenade launchers, Chinese and US-made AK-47, M-79, M-16 rifles and grenades.

One of the biggest ammo hauls was found in a remote village in Bogra on June 27 last year: police recovered over 1 lakh bullets and about 200kg of explosives from an abandoned truck.

Police arrested the truck owner, Jogesh Dev Barman, in a forest in Habiganj with suspected close ties to Tripura Cooperatives Association, a front organisation of the separatist group All Tripura Tigers Force.

On November 30, police recovered four AK-47 rifles, two revolvers, 20 hand grenades, four time bombs, 1,000 AK-47 bullets, 2kg plastic explosives and sophisticated walkie-talkies after a gunfight with a criminal outfit in Dhaka.

Police report on the haul says the arms might have been smuggled into Bangladesh for a short stay before shipment abroad.

Between September and October, the BDR recovered five bombs, 130kg of plastic explosives, 226 hand grenades, 310 grenade launchers, 50 time bomb detonators and 14 containers of chemicals from the dense forests in Bandarban.

Police report indicates that illegal arms are smuggled in mainly through Chittagong Port and the CHT districts. At least 37 illegal arms smuggling syndicates are active in this region, it mentioned.

In the bordering Indian provinces of Assam and Tripura, two powerful underground separatist groups -- the United Liberation Front of Assam and the All Tripura Tigers Force have been operating for decades.

The Arakan rebel groups of Myanmar operate near Bangladesh border. An Arakan rebel known as Selim was arrested in Chittagong in mid-2000. In his confessional statement he admitted his involvement in arms smuggling. He said arms from the Thai and Myanmar insurgent network were smuggled into Bangladesh through Chittagong and the CHT. These are then sold in the underground market.

UNB ON GUNRUNNING

"The sources and destinations of the arms smuggling are not clear. But this is an old story that Bangladesh is being used as a transit point for its geographical location," former general Ibrahim told the news agency.

He said the arms smuggling through Bangladesh possibly takes place through all routes -- land, water and sky.

Asked whether South Asian insurgent groups are involved in the illicit arms trading through Bangladesh, he said, "The starting and ending points are not clear, what is clear is that Bangladesh is being used as a transit point for quite some time now.

"Because of political instability in the country over the years and its failure to give enough attention to the matter (arms smuggling), the government is always busy dealing with internal political affairs," he said.

"The arms smugglers have gained courage," said the retired general having the experience of leading counterinsurgency operations.