Northeast Militants Smuggle Chinese Arms Into India Through Myanmar

Imphal, Feb 22 : Chinese weapons in large numbers are finding their way to the northeastern states through five major routes most of which pass through Myanmar territory, a senior intelligence official said here.

"Around 80% of the weapons seized or recovered from the militants in recent years have 'star' mark on them, which means they were manufactured in China," he said.

Over four dozen militant groups are active along India-Myanmar border and they smuggle the traditional weapons like AK series rifles, grenades, pistols, cartridges and bombs into India through four land routes and one sea route.

Most of the weapons are brought from the southwestern China's Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar, the official said.

The weapons are smuggled into India via Ukhrul, Moreh in Chandel and Churachandpur, the districts bordering Myanmar, and some parts of Mizoram.

The sea route involves Bangladesh's Chittagong port from where the weapons are sent to militants in the northeast, he said.

Though some weapons are of other origin but majority of them are Chinese, he said.

"Militants have their camps just inside the Myanmar territory at a distance of few kilometers from the Indian border. Some camps are as close as three-four kilometers from the international border," the official said

When asked about the issue, Manipur DGP Y Joykumar said the state's border with Myanmar is porous which allows infiltration activities. He claimed that successful plugging of the porous border would result in finding a solution to the problem of insurgency and smuggling within 2-3 years.

He pointed out that survey work for fencing the border area on the Manipur sector of the 370 km long Indo-Myanmar frontier is underway and proposals have been made for sealing some portions of the border through which the militants normally infiltrate.

"Once this is done, we hope infiltration and smuggling activities across the border would come down," the DGP said.