New Delhi, Nov 17: Easy flow of Chinese weapons illegally into Myanmar and India is posing threats to regional security and stability, intelligence agencies have flagged to the Indian government.
From the northeastern states of India, a total of 423 illegal weapons, including AK-47s, M-16s and Chinese pistols, have been recovered so far this year.
Intelligence agencies have also said that China is supplying arms and ammunition to insurgent groups on the Myanmar border as they pay good prices.
“Prominent insurgent groups, especially those from Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram, maintain regular contact with Chinese intelligence agencies and have benefited from Chinese largesse and weapons,” the agencies alerted the government.
The agencies have pointed out that training of insurgent groups in the northeast, provisioning of arms and ammunition and harbouring exiled militants and leaders have been recurrent facets of China’s ‘diplo-terrorism’ against India.
Situation in Myanmar
Myanmar lies at a very strategically significant location.
It provides an alternate land bridge to the trade routes of the Indian Ocean, easing the pressure on the Malacca Straits and is a trove of natural resources to fuel the growth of the landlocked Yunnan Province.
Moreover, Myanmar under Chinese sphere of influence helps stymie India’s growth in the region.
Sources said that recently a large consignment of Chinese made weapons comprising AK 47 assault rifles, machine guns, anti-tank mines, grenades and ammunition of a total value of approximately $1 million was seized in Mae Sot district on the Thai side of the Myanmar-Thailand border.
This seized cache of arms is not the only consignment of Chinese weapons that has made its way into the region.
Earlier this year, a large cache of 500 assault rifles, 30 Universal Machine Guns, 70,000 ammunition rounds, a huge stock of grenades and significantly, a few F-6 Chinese Manpads, were offloaded at Monakhali beach near the coastal junction of Myanmar and Bangladesh.
From there, the consignment reached the Arakan Army Camp in Sandak and then it was further smuggled into Rakhine using the Parva corridor in South Mizoram. (IANS)
