NEW DELHI, February 27: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun investigations into the massive seizure of arms and ammunition in the Andaman islands early this month and sent a 10-member team there to probe the international gun running racket which was suspected to be catering to insurgents in the north-east.CBI Director D R Karthikeyan told newsmen here that the team had reached the island today and would start the probe from tomorrow.In the second major arms haul in the country after the December 1995 Purulia arms drop, defence forces nabbed 74 members of an international gun running gang on February 11 and seized sophisticated weapons, including 150 automatic rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition from them.All the gang members, who are currently in police remand, were being interrogated by the defence forces and police.The CBI team, assisted by accompanying Burmese interpreters, would not only question the gang members but also hold discussions with thedefence officials who nabbed them, Karthikeyan said. Most of the gang members belong to Myanmar.The team comprises five members of CBI's Special Investigation Team from Chennai, three from its Crime Branch in Calcutta and two from Delhi, he added.In a swift combined services ``Operation Leech'' that witnessed a `short' exchange of fire, the armed forces had killed six members of the gang, apprehended 74 armed men and seized a large cache of arms and ammunition.Defence sources had earlier said the arms originated from the south-east Asian region and the possibility that they were meant for terrorist outfits in the north-east could not be ruled out.The vessels, mounted with high calibre weapons including anti-aircraft guns, were allowed to unload their arms cache in a northern Andaman island, about 80 km from Myanmar, after a four-day surveillance launched by the armed forces.Key to the interrogation would be not just the origin and destination of the weapons but whether the people picked up hadbeen the ``original suppliers'', the defence sources had said adding that the probe would also cover the methods of onward transport to the end-user.About seven naval ships including a frigate from Visakhapatnam, about 200 marine commandos and crack force personnel from an Army Infantry Battalion, Air Force helicopter, gun ships and Coast Guard units were involved in the operation conducted under officiating fortress commander of the islands Commodore A S Rai.It is suspected that there was a larger conspiracy having international ramifications in the clandestine effort to land a huge consignment of sophisticated arms and ammunition and modern equipment by foreign nationals at Land Fall islands in Andamans, CBI sources said.A case has been registered by the agency under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), Foreigners Act, Arms Act and Explosive Substances Act.While a team of CBI officers has reached Port Blair today to commence the investigation, the agency's director has requested theassistance of officers of defence services in the probe.Karthikeyan also sought the cooperation of the people to pass on any information relevant to the case and said that the information leading to definite clues would be suitably rewarded.
