Intelligence officials fear Calcutta is now an international arms bazaar

R K Bhattacharya in Calcutta

In September sleuths from several intelligence agencies, including the Research and Analysis Wing, are said to have had a high level meeting in Calcutta.

They were on the trail of a young man of northeastern origin. At that meeting the fugitive's portrait was made on the basis of a sketchy description and despatched to important police outposts.

The youth, while masquerading as a Meghalaya state government representative, was in the gunrunning business for militants of the terrorism-struck North-East.

The crime by itself was not as surprising as the fact that he had sourced most his weapons from Calcutta itself. It had dawned on the intelligence network for the first time that Calcutta has become a great international arms bazaar.

The city's weapons market is now said to be the most crowded in Southeast Asia with buyers ranging from petty dacoits to international terrorists.

A Subsidiary Intelligence Branch official explained the city is close to the borders of four countries; Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and China. And except in the case of China, all the borders with India are extremely porous. The border with China too is not really well guarded as the North-East's militants are reported to have bases across it.

Besides, Calcutta has the advantage of a more stable government of West Bengal when compared to other cites in the country. A RAW report concedes arms are pouring into Calcutta from all over and militants are sourcing it from there.

The state police agrees with the RAW report. Joint Police Commissioner Goutam Chakraborty says his force is informed about the movement of arms and keeping a close watch on the developments. Said Chakraborty, "I admit arms are being smuggled from several places in the North and the South into Calcutta."

The arms being sold, he disclosed, are not just country-made weapons but many a times sophisticated guns.

An SIB official felt that though Calcutta had become a favoured sanctuary for criminals, terrorists were unlikely to take advantage of the situation.

"We don't think there could be an earth shattering incident like a series of explosions in public places in Calcutta. Criminal and terrorist organisations cannot afford to disturb their favourite shelter," said one police official who was in charge of the security for British Prime Minister John Major on his recent visit to Calcutta.

However, despite gunrunning activity being common knowledge among the security and intelligence organisations, not a single illegal arms dealer has been arrested so far. Nor have any major illegal arms rackets been busted.

Though it can be assumed that the criminals are not likely to create trouble in their haven, the police are already blaming the slow but steady rise in the crime graph over the past few months to the criminals's possession of huge caches of arms and ammunition.

The police's Criminal Investigation Departments sources reveal arms pouring in from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh do not cost much and anyone could afford them. But the arms, coming in from neighbouring countries, particularly from Bangladesh and Nepal, are sophisticated and very expensive. These are beyond the means of petty criminals are mainly picked up by militant outfits from the North-East.

There is a suspicion that the arms are also being smuggled in by the sea and in connivance with some customs officials.

A senior police officer summed up the situation thus: "When some arms are airdropped in Purulia, there is an international furore. Yet twice the number of that airdropped cache is being smuggled into Calcutta every day."