Bleach convicted in armsdrop case

CALCUTTA, JANUARY 31: A city court today convicted British arms dealer Peter James Gifron Von Kalkstein Bleach and five Latvians in the Pu...

CALCUTTA, JANUARY 31: A city court today convicted British arms dealer Peter James Gifron Von Kalkstein Bleach and five Latvians in the Purulia arms drop case, but deferred the sentencing till February 2.

The court, however, acquitted Ananda Margi Vinoy Singh, as it felt the investigating agency, the CBI, had 8220;failed to produce any evidence8221; against him.

Delivering the verdict before a packed courtroom, the fourth magistrate of the city sessions court, P.K. Biswas, observed that the prosecution had established that the accused had hatched an 8220;international conspiracy8221; to smuggle in arms and ammunition to help insurgent groups and destabilise the country. However, he did not accept the CBI charge against the accused of 8220;waging a war against India8221;.

The Anand Marg Pracharak Sangh as an organisation was virtually given a clean chit by Biswas, who noted: 8220;There was not sufficient evidence to link the Ananda Marg organisation as a whole to this case.8221; The judge further observed: 8220;It was not a simplecase8230;the very nature and the quantity of the arms were adequate enough to disturb peace of a region.8221;

On the night of December 17-18, 1995, AK-47/AK-56 rifles, rocket launchers, anti-tank missiles, pistols and thousands of rounds of ammunition had been dropped from an AN-26 into four villages in Purulia district of West Bengal. The site was close to the Ananda Marg global headquarters in Purulia.

The aircraft had diverted from its assigned flight path to drop the consignment and then flown to Phuket in Thailand. While later passing over Indian airspace on December 22, the aircraft had been forced to land at Mumbai8217;s Sahar International Airport. Bleach and the five Latvian crew members 8212; Alexandre Klichine, Oleg Gaidash, Igor Moskovitin, Igor Timmerman, and Antimenko Eugueni 8212; had been arrested while Kim Palgrave Davy, said to be one of the masterminds, had managed to escape.

A huge arsenal of arms, including assault rifles, pistols, hand grenades and rocket launchers, is still missing and isbelieved to have passed into the hands of underground elements.

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Key conspirator Bleach is believed to have travelled to Bulgaria, Latvia, Bangkok and Copenhegen in the course of 8220;plotting the conspiracy8221;. Along with the five crew members, he has been found guilty under the Arms Act, Explosives Act, Explosive Substances Act and Aircraft Act.

The CBI had filed a charge-sheet against the six foreign nationals and Vinoy Singh on March 20, 1996, and the trial had begun on March 11, 1998. The court examined 140 witnesses, including inspectors from New Scotland Yard, during the course of the proceedings.