Chetia claimed that ULFA does not have many members in Bangladesh. “I was in touch with people who had relatives living in Assam and other Assamese who lived in Bangladesh. No other Bangladeshi had links with ULFA.
He said that when he went to Bangladesh in 1988, only five to six ULFA members were in Bangladesh and when they were arrested, the number increased to 10-12. We did not have many men here because we did not have any camp in Bangladesh.
weapons
In April 2004, police seized a large consignment of smuggled weapons at the Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Jetty, when trucks were offloading arms and ammunition from fishing trawlers.
The incident became known as the 10-truck arms haul and sparked widespread debate during the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami coalition government.
Chinese-made arms and ammunition are believed to have been sent for ULFA and were to be taken across the border to India.
“I don’t think we can say that the weapons belonged to ULFA. Some outfits came from the North-East of India but we cannot confirm which ones. That’s because there was an understanding between the outfits in that area. Maybe Let it be so.
According to reports, separatists from India’s Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram had camps in Bangladesh.
On how the weapons were brought in, Chetia said: “International smuggling organizations are keen to act. What can’t money buy?
A court in Chattogram ruled in January 2014 a 10-truck weapons case that killed 14 people, including Industries Minister Matiur Rehman Nizami of the BNP-Jamaat coalition government, Minister of State for Home Lutfuzzaman Babar and ULFA military wing chief Paresh Baruah. was sentenced.
financing
When asked how ULFA was funded, Chetia said that they used to take 0.5 taka for every kilo of tea from the tea planters to run the organization at that time.
Chetia rejected the allegations of ULFA being supported by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and the Chinese government. “These are all lies. We collected money from the tea garden owners.”
He dismissed reports that ULFA has investments in Bangladesh. “There was no such thing – it’s all misinformation. The government found nothing in its investigation.”
He said that ULFA has split into two factions. One is run by Chetia’s group and the other is an independent entity run by Paresh Baruah and his associates. Both the groups are negotiating.
Chetia insisted that he would never join mainstream politics, although several of his groups have done so.