NEW DELHI: The Government has zeroed in on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as the probable end recipient of the large arms consignment that was dropped in Purulia, West Bengal, and last December.

At the same time, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the mysterious arms drop, is baffled on how to proceed in the interrogation of one of the accused, mercenary Peter Bleach, as he has claimed that his testimony would be “embarrassing” for the Government of India.

The arms consignment, comprising sophisticated weaponry such as Kalashnikov rifles, rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and antitank weaponry, was dropped in Purulia by a Latvian AN26, causing an uproar in the country over the ease with which Indian airspace was violated.

‘The CBI sources said that investigations were slowly zeroing in on the LTTE as the intended and recipient of the sophisticated arms consignment, ‘One major reason for this is that of all the arms users in this region, the profile of the arms consignment fits only the LTTE “to a T”.

As for the dropping of the arms in Purulia, far away from any known LTTE base, officials say that investigations have shown that the dropping ‘was a case of a miscalculation in logistics, It is believed that the transport aircraft carrying the arms had taken on too heavy a lead, and that it was low on fuel, and thus had to dum; some of the load to prevent a mishap for the aircraft. Officials said that inquiries revealed that the aircraft was headed for a port in Myanmar; here some LTTE cadets are believed to be based. These cadres routinely ship arms and other equipment, mainly coming in from Singapore or Thailand, to LTTE strongholds in Sri Lanka, by sea.

‘The Myanmar Sri Lanka sea route is said to be heavily used by the LTTE, which has equipped itself with speed boats are said to be fitted that they put the Coast Guard to shame. The speed boats are said to be fitted with highly sophisticated equipment such as night navigational devices, making L) boats extremely mobile and hard to pin down.

‘The arms that were dropped in Purulia were similarly intended to be shipped from the Myanmar port of Sri Lanka. Although the arms were dumped in West Bengal, the aircraft did make its rendezvous at Yangon, before making its return trip.

During its return, the aircraft was seized at Bombay, but due to police bumbling, the chief suspect known as Kim Davy managed to escape. The authorities could only nab the crew, including a former British defence personnel and current mercenary Peter Bleach. Mr. Bleach has reportedly refused to say anything to his CBI interrogators. He has told officials that whatever he has to say could be embarrassing to the Government of India, and has demanded that he be turned government “approver,” meaning he would testify in return for reduced sentence or immunity.

His smug behavior has reportedly unnerved CBI officials, whose requests to tum him approver have been turned down by North Block. Government sources said Mr, Bleach is hinting that the arms belonged to the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), and that they ware ment for a group of insurgents operating in a country neighboring northeast India.

This has been discounted by Government officials who say that the arms profile does not fit any insurgent group in that area; RPGs and antitank weapons are favorites of the LTTE only.

Hence their skepticism with the claims by Mr. Bleach, and heir suspicion that he is trying to’ bluff authorities in order to save his own skin. Nonetheless, CBI officials are quite baffled on how to further proceed on the case, given Mr, Bleach’s obstinacy.

Article extracted from this publication >>  February 21, 1996