Army
intelligence say that the Maoists are smuggling in explosives and arms
from the Indian and Tibetan borders. The Maoists' activities in the region
have increased in recent days, but we are prepared. The primary route used by the rebels is the Belauri checkpoint of Kanchanpur district and Melauli checkpoint at the border of Dadeldhura and Baitadi districts. The Maoist rebels' current route for smuggling weapons and explosives from the Indian border is from Belauri (Kanchanpur) check-point of Kanchanpur district via Jogbudha (Dadeldhura) and Melauli (Baitadi), then to Bajura district and finally to Achham district. The Maoists are purchasing explosives in nearby India. Army officials official siad that the Maoists are also smuggling arms and explosives from the Tibetan border via Jharganda and Taklakot (Humla). There is a high concentration of Maoists in the remote Gokuleshwor VDC, the area that borders Darchula and Baitadi districts; Purchungehat VDC and Kuwakot VDC in Baitadi district, Ramaroshan VDC and Binayak VDC of Achham district and Ghagal Khimadi VDC at the border of Doti and Kailali districts and Melauli (Baitadi).
The Maoists are warnig local people not to move around army vehicles. Those defying Maoist orders are warned of physical actions. The
Maoists have been travelling casually across the Nepal-India border in
far west Nepal. The rebels smuggled large numbers of camouflage uniforms
through Taratal and Kotiaghat of Bardiya district.
The Maoists, during the ceasefire period, smuggled in arms and ammunitions from Indian territories and other countries. Most of the arms were brought in from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh of India.
Arms
are being smuggled into India, yet they confirmed that the arms are usually
Chinese and Russian made. A rebel's statement said: "Usually we get arms
through Nepal and sometimes through Tibet, but our main procurer are ULFA
and LTTE. here are so many arms dealer all over the world. They are sitting
in China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and even in India. I am not in
the position to say much on this subject."
The chief weapons used by the Maoists are not big machine-guns but homemade guns, pistols, land explosives, pressure-cooker bombs and other small arms. The
bulk of small arms smuggled into Nepal come from India's bordering illegal
arms bazaar. Weapons like katuwa (homemade guns), bharuwa (muzzle loader),
12-bore guns, 22-bore guns, air guns, rifles and shotguns were easily brought
into Nepal, mostly by criminals and sold to Maoist militants. The raw materials
for socket bombs and land explosives that have seriously injured and killed
many civilians were smuggled from India.
The
Madi valley is the ideal guerrilla terrain surrounded by jungle on three
sides and just a hill away from Bihar. To the north, the rebel supply line
passes through the National Park, across the East-West Highway, past
Pithuwa, up to the Chepang Hills, into Dhading and Gorkha.
The Maoist rebel (so called People's Liberation Army PLA) successfully ambushed security forces. The PLA captured large numbers of SLRs, M-16s, LMGs, SMGs, M-36 grenades and heavy quantity of ammunitions from those sites. The classic Maoist strategy is to replenish their strength with the arms captured from the security forces. |