War in Nepal: Facts on Maoists Maoist smuggling weaponry from India and Tibet The change of smuggling routes Maoists are seizing arms Information on Indian Maoists

Smuggling weaponry from India and Tibet

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).

When the Maoiste are planning a major attack, they have to transport weapons and explosives to the area, they want to target. Before larger attacks the Maoists are smuggling weapons from the Indian States of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal to Nepal. In the eastern part of the country the weapons are imported from Bihar (India). The Maoists are also fighting a propaganda war and spreading rumours of larger attacks.

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 openly boast that they use the same route to regularly bring in weapons and explosives and transport them through the Terai jungles into the hills. Some militants get militia training in secret bases in India and others use the same route to take out wounded cadre to India.

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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.

The arms were purchased in the open weapon market of Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh. After the breakdown of the ceasefire the Maoists have altered the arms smuggling routes for security reasons. Before the ceasefire, arms were being smuggled through western Terai districts. Since a couple of months, the Maoists have mostly been using northern points of western Nepal to bring in arms. The entry points include Muchu and Taklakot of Humla district, and other places of Darchula and Baitadi districts.

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.

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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.