Peter Bleach, British.
The Arms Fixers Chapter 2
The Day it
Rained Arms in India
That today’s control systems
suffer from crucial failings is clearly seen from the following example of a
complex illicit deal that went wrong. The main arms broker, a former UK intelligence officer, insisted that he had
cleared the shipment with the UK
military and police authorities – but things turned out rather differently.
In mid-1995, Peter Bleach, a
military equipment broker living in North Yorkshire, heard from a Danish
business friend who was living in Munich and
trading in air services that another businessman he knew in Copenhagen
was looking for a supplier of cigarettes.1 Bleach contacted the Copenhagen businessman.
After some weeks of talking about the prices of cigarettes, the businessman
said he wanted to broker the supply of 2,500 Kalashnikov rifles and 1.5 million
rounds of ammunition. As is customary in arms deals, he did not disclose the
destination to Bleach, but indicated that the quote should be for delivery to Calcutta port. Within
days, Bleach said, he provided the businessman with a quote of $475,000 for
purchasing and delivering AK rifles with ammunition to Calcutta . Payment was to be in advance, with
a 100% irrevocable letter of credit. A few days later, the Copenhagen
businessman agreed to the quote and invited Bleach to Copenhagen to sign the contract.
Peter Bleach, whose full name is Peter von Kalkstein-Bleach, was 46
years old at the time. He is a former corporal
in British military intelligence and had served in the armed forces for
over 20 years in, among other places, Southern Africa and Belfast . Although only three years in the
arms brokering business, he knew that ‘The skill in defence trading is in
dealing with the appallingly complicated paperwork – supplying goods is easy,
anyone can do that.’2 He claimed that his own UK-based company, Aeroserve, had
a licence to handle weapons from the UK Ministry of Defence.
The Third Man
According to Peter Bleach, he
flew to Copenhagen to attend a meeting in early August 1995. His Munich-based
friend met him and drove him to a waterfront house. There he met his Copenhagen customer and
two other business associates, another Dane and a third man who, for much of
the meeting, remained anonymous on the deck of the house. As discussions
proceeded, the other Dane consulted the third man separately about the
negotiations. Gradually it became clear that the delivery was not for the Indian government, but for an insurgent group.3
Bleach later said that he had to play along with the idea so as not to endanger
his life, but that he had decided to inform the UK security services. He
offered to work out another quote for the clandestine delivery. Then, to his
surprise, before leaving he was introduced to the third man, but he was not given
the man’s name.
The third man showed Bleach the
area on a map where he wanted the illegal arms to be delivered. It was just
inside West Bengal . Bleach says the man
alleged that ‘his people’ were peaceful but had been killed and abused by
forces of the Communist government of West Bengal ,
so he wanted the arms to hit back. Bleach advised that arms could be delivered
to such an area only by parachute drop
or by covert landing.4 He insisted that only the pilot who was to deliver the
arms should know the ultimate destination. ‘I stressed from the very
beginning’, Bleach recalls, ‘that, in order to be successful, it is most
important that this resembles a perfectly, normal transaction in every possible
way… No single contractor should be
aware of the entire route.’ 5
Once back in the UK, Bleach says he contacted the Ministry
of Defence through someone he knew in the Defence
Export Services Organisation (DESO) and was put in touch with an official
on the India desk, Colin Allkins, whom
he fully informed of the secret plan.6 Bleach claims that Allkins promised to refer the matter to the
relevant authorities and told him meanwhile to carry on as normal and gather as
much information as possible. Bleach says he told his Danish contact to increase the quotation price by $50,000 to
cover extra paperwork and bonuses for the aircrew. While Bleach was on a
‘normal’ business trip to Bangladesh ,
he received a faxed copy of a letter of
credit from one of the Danish businessmen offering $470,000. The letter was
issued by a Hong Kong bank and signed by
‘Kim P. Davey’– this turned out to be the third man. 7
Friends of ‘Davey’ apparently called him ‘Peter’,
but Interpol now believes that his real name is Niels Christian Nielsen, born in Denmark in December 1961. He took
the name Kim Palgrave Davey from a New
Zealand infant who died at the age of five weeks and managed to acquire a New
Zealand passport in that name after visiting New Zealand.8 Copenhagen
police records show that Nielsen was arrested in May 1982 for two robberies and
money laundering, but escaped. 9 Interpol had wanted him since 1982 and claimed
that since 1988 he has used 46 false names and been involved in gold and drug
smuggling, money laundering and counterfeiting $100 notes. Nielsen was
described as a teetotaller and vegetarian, and a member of a religious sect,
Ananda Marga, founded in 1955 in India . This
sect has been in dispute over land with the government of West
Bengal for many years. The authorities there blame the sect for
acts and threats of violence against Indian government personnel and property.
Bleach says he continued to
inform officials at DESO by fax and to ask for help.10 On 14 and 22 September,
and 8 December 1995, he met police Special Branch officers in North Yorkshire
and told them about ‘Davey’ and his three Danish associates. 11 Bleach claims
that the Special Branch officers responded by asking him to ‘continue the deal
for the time being whilst they contacted the Danish and Indian authorities and
decided what to do. They warned that they might want the delivery to take place
so that they could identify the recipients and arrest as many people as
possible. I agreed to this, provided that I could keep any money paid to me in
order to compensate for my time and trouble – and they agreed to that.’ 12
At a second meeting with Bleach,
one of the Special Branch officers, Ian Lynch, said he told Bleach to distance
himself from the operation. Fearing the repercussions of pulling out of the
deal, Bleach says he told Lynch that he would arrange the aircraft and crew for
‘Davey’ but make him deal with the arms supplier.13 It appears he told the
Special Branch that ‘Davey’ had deposited around $460,000 in a letter of credit
in London for the aircraft and for the purchase and delivery of rifles,
pistols, ammunition, grenades and rocket launchers. ‘My assumption was the
British would tell the Indian authorities right away. In fact they didn't tell
them until the end of November 1995’, Bleach later protested.14 However, the
local UK Special Branch officers continue to claim they told Bleach: ‘don't do
it’. 15 Whatever the truth, Bleach continued to broker the deal.
On 24 September, Bleach and his
Danish contact flew to Dubai and then on to Dhaka , Bangladesh ,
where Bleach said he had to attend to his ‘normal’ business.16 On 27 September,
they flew to Bangkok
to finalize the new contract. Bleach said his contact told him on the journey
that ‘Davey’ was in charge of the operation; furthermore, that he was a very
rich businessman based in Hong Kong who had
made his money out of smuggling gold and electronic goods. His Danish contact
also alleged that one of the other Danish businessmen had inflated the price to
over US $600,000 with a $150,000 advance, but that ‘Davey’ had given the
businessman only a few weeks to repay the money, failing which he would take
out a contract on his life. 17
Attending the Bangkok hotel dinner meeting were ‘Davey’,
his lawyer, his business partner, Bleach, his Danish contact, and an Indian
called ‘Randy’. ‘Davey’ wanted to know if the arms could be delivered by ship
and then taken by road to Purulia in West Bengal .
But Bleach said he convinced him that this method was too difficult, and that
it was much better to use an aircraft. If the aircraft were bought, it could be
resold or used for other things, and it was this idea that attracted ‘Davey’.
He wanted to base the aircraft in Dhaka.18
‘Davey’ arranged for Bleach to
find a cargo plane to ferry the arms. This turned out to be an ageing Russian-built Antonov 26. A preliminary
report of the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) claims that ‘Davey’
provided $250,000 to buy the freighter aircraft from the bankrupt Latvian Airlines – previously part of
the USSR state-owned Aeroflot – and to hire
the five-person air crew and two ground engineers for three months.19
Another report says Peter Bleach took $30,000 from ‘Davey’ to hire the services
of the crew on the assumption that the plane would in future be based in Dhaka.
20 The Antonov 26 freighter was
registered as AH 266 and was transferred
to Carol Air Services Ltd, a company based in Hong Kong but registered in October 1995 in the Turks and
Caicos Islands. Carol Air was reported to be a subsidiary of a Hong Kong company that had employed ‘Davey’. 21 The
Russian-built plane was based for the time being in Riga , Latvia Bangladesh .
It is worth bearing in mind that the salary of a Latvian pilot is probably
about one-thirtieth that of a pilot in Western Europe .
On 21 November, the Antonov left Riga
for India and Pakistan, but apparently did not visit Bangladesh.
By November 1995, Bleach was in
touch with a UK weapons trading company, Border Technology and Innovations Ltd
(BTI) of Hexham, England, to order the consignment on behalf of ‘Davey’.22 BTI
claimed that it had agents in 22 countries in 1990 and has secured military and
civil defence contracts in 15 countries including Angola, Bangladesh, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka and Thailand. The company said that Bleach showed them what appeared
to be a valid end-user certificate from the Bangladesh Ministry of Defence, but
an invoice given to Bleach for the order mentions a request for parachutes:
‘Peter…Total price is $170,000…We need EUC quickly to effect licences. Payment:
$85,000 in advance, balance by bankers draft. Commission: $10,000 is in this
for you. Parachutes not available.’23
In any case, BTI did not need to
apply for a UK arms export licence from the Department of Trade and Industry
because, as with so many other UK-arranged arms deals, the firm would purchase
the arms abroad and not bring them into UK jurisdiction. BTI turned to a
well-known Bulgarian arms manufacturer, KAS Engineering, whose subsidiary, the
Arsenal Company, was in a position to sell pistols and Kalashnikov rifles at
low prices.24 Bleach later claimed that he distanced himself from the deal, put
‘Davey’ in touch with BTI and concentrated on finding the aircraft. 25
Collection and Delivery
On 10 December 1995, the Antonov
landed in Burgas , Bulgaria ,
to collect the 77 wooden cases of arms.26 Bleach says that when he departed for
Burgas from Gatwick a plain-clothed UK
customs officer met him and said he knew of the deal, encouraging him to
believe that the UK
authorities were ready to intervene at the right moment. 27 At first, the old
Antonov was grounded in Burgas because it was thought to be not airworthy. 28
Both ‘Davey’ and Bleach boarded the plane before it took off with the arms
cargo and headed for Karachi .
Bleach subsequently claimed that his decision to go on the arms flight was
because ‘Davey’ had threatened to harm Bleach’s family if he did not board,
since he knew too much. ‘I went to Bulgaria as the agent for the sale
of the plane – I had nothing to do with the sale of the arms’, Bleach said
later when he was arrested. 29
Flying from Karachi on 17
December 1995, the old Antonov lumbered towards West Bengal, landing at
Varanasi to refuel.30 To Bleach’s surprise, the Indian customs and police
authorities there took no steps to search the plane or arrest ‘Davey’ and the
others. It then took off again headed for Rangoon .
31 Close to midnight en route over Gaya in West Bengal , the crew claim that ‘Davey’ suddenly ordered
them at gunpoint to fly low over the villages of Purulia in order to drop the
arms. Defiantly, they did not fly very low, but the arms cases were
nevertheless dropped and landed miles off target, using parachute rigging that
had been bought in South
Africa . 32 Cases were marked ‘Technical
Equipment’ and bore the name ‘Central Ordnance Depot, Rajendrapur Cantonment , Bangladesh Rangoon , but was refused permission to land
due to ‘poor visibility’. 34 It then headed back to Calcutta ,
refuelled and took off towards Phuket ,
Thailand
Seeing the parachutes falling
from the sky, and finding with amazement the broken crates of arms and
ammunition, the villagers of Purulia ran to tell the authorities, whose
intelligence services had already been tipped off. Afterwards, it was revealed
that on 10 and 17 November and 15 December 1995, the UK Home Office had
reported the plan to their counterparts in India, the Research and Analysis
Wing (RAW), and the CBI had taken over the case on 27 December, but the latter
had obviously failed to intercept the freighter.35 A security memorandum of 25
November from RAW to the Indian Government stated that a European-based
businessman had wanted to deliver arms to Communist rebels in West Bengal. It
said he had bought an Antonov 26, visited Riga
for that purpose on 15 November and would try to land it at the airstrip of a
disused coal mine in Dhanbad, near Purulia, called Panchet Hill. 36 It would
appear that by 17 December ‘Davey’ had discarded the idea of landing, in
favour of the parachute drop, but
that for some reason the Indian authorities were not prepared to stop the
flight.
On 21 December, the freighter
re-entered Indian airspace supposedly en route to Calcutta ,
but because of ‘bad weather’ it changed course and landed at Madras ,
apparently to refuel for an onward journey back to Pakistan . Again, no action was
taken by the Indian security services. It took off again at 10:45 p.m. the same
night and headed for Karachi.37 Within two hours’ flying time from Pakistan , the
old Antonov was ordered to land by Indian air traffic controllers because it
was on an unscheduled route. It landed at Sahar airport in Bombay at 1:39 am on 22 December and was
ordered to park at a remote side of the airport for refuelling. 38 It was an
hour before Indian officials turned up. 39 ‘Davey’ simply walked off the
Antonov and quickly disappeared, while Bleach and the five Latvians were
arrested and jailed. According to Bleach, ‘Davey’ took advantage of the lax
security at the airport. 40 A Sahar airport official who had investigated the
aircraft on landing said he had no knowledge of the arms drop at Purulia until
Bleach told him. Up until then, all he knew was that the plane had flown off
course from Thailand .
According to the Indian police, a computer laptop found on the plane apparently
belonging to ‘Davey’ showed 49 places over which the plane intended to fly. 41
In the days after the arms drop
at Purulia on 17 December, India ’s
news media were awash with speculation as to what had happened. Suspicion was
directed mainly at Pakistan ’s
secret service once it was known that the aircraft had flown in from Karachi , while the West
Bengali authorities denied having received a warning. Ananda Marga and the
Bangladesh Government dismissed any involvement in ordering the arms, and some
journalists speculated on possible links to arms for the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka , but
without proof.42 Meanwhile, the Bulgarian government issued a statement rejecting
any responsibility for the supply of the arms. Even so, within two weeks the
Indian Government decided to switch its purchase of 100,000 assault rifles from
Bulgaria to Romania . 43 The
Indian security and aviation authorities were accused of being inept, and an
inter-agency panel set up by the government recommended strict monitoring of
all unscheduled cargo flights, but stopped short of requiring all freight
service agents to register their clients. 44
Peter Bleach and the five
Latvians were transferred to a jail in Calcutta
and charged on 24 December 1995 with ‘abetting the waging of war against India and
criminal conspiracy’, a charge comparable to treason. The younger brother of
‘Randy’, Vinay Kumar Singh, was accused of waiting with his brother to transport
the weapons and was also arrested and charged.45 Indian police arrested eleven
Ananda Marga monks, including three US nationals and a Greek and
Irishman, but they were released after no incriminating evidence was found. 46
The CBI continued hunting for several Indian nationals in addition to ‘Davey’,
who was accused of running a network of corrupt officials in India.47 If Bleach
and the crew were found guilty, the minimum sentence would be life
imprisonment, while the maximum would be death by hanging. They also faced
charges under the Arms Act and Explosives Substances Act and the aviation laws.
48 The trial, still proceeding in late 1999, was expected to take a long time
to complete, with over 250 witnesses to be called.
Mystery Remains
Incarcerated, Peter Bleach
continued to argue his innocence by saying that he was involved as an informer
with the full knowledge of the British security services because they wanted to
find out who else was involved before taking action. He produced faxes he had
sent to UK
government officials that he claimed would prove this. He alleged that the
Indian security chiefs were warned long before the arms drop was made, but that
they deliberately allowed the Antonov to shed its cargo in order to make
political capital out of the result in West Bengal .
One fax from Bleach to the UK MoD read: ‘I was informed that my quote was
acceptable and I was invited to discuss the final details with the buyers, who
were acting on behalf of the end-user. This turns out to be an illicit deal and
the end-user appears at this stage to be an insurgent group in India.’49 Bleach
also claimed that UK Special Branch officers had initially encouraged him to
provide a delivery plane but advised him to stop short of supplying the
weapons. Later, when he had found all the information they needed, Bleach says
he was told to pull out altogether, but by then he claims it was too late
because of his concerns for his and his family’s safety. 50 Bleach maintains
that he always believed the plane would be stopped before the drop and – thanks
to his help – his name would be quickly cleared.
Bleach and his supporters accuse
the British government of a cover-up over his failed deal and have demanded a
statement admitting its role. One of those collecting evidence for Bleach’s
defence is his friend, Jo Fletcher. She says her efforts to help him were
thwarted by Special Branch officers: ‘… the Police came round – twenty members
of Her Majesty’s Constabulary – at six thirty in the morning, banged on my door.
They took all the documentation that I had brought down from Yorkshire, they
took piles of my own paperwork and they also took my computer, which they broke
– and Peter’s computer...’51 North Yorkshire Police confirmed to the BBC that
they did ‘collect evidence’ from Jo Fletcher’s home. According to the BBC,
Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office officials could offer no contradiction
to Bleach’s story. 52
Mystery remains as to the
whereabouts and the exact role of Niels Christian Nielsen (alias ‘Kim Davey’),
who has not been seen since his disappearance from Sahar airport on 22 December
1995. Apart from the Indian authorities, those in several European countries
want Nielsen on charges ranging from armed robbery to counterfeiting. The
Indian CBI told reporters that Nielsen had stayed in a hotel where he had made
several phone calls to Bangladesh .
They also believe that a Hong Kong-based businessman had financed the entire
operation and that he was present in Riga
with ‘Davey’ and Bleach when the deal to purchase the Antonov was struck.53 The
CBI allege there were 14 others, including three Danes and a Bangladeshi
military officer, who were involved.
On 17 January 1997, Indian police
arrested a man on arrival from Singapore
at Bombay ’s
Sahar airport in connection with the Purulia case. The man awaiting questioning
was believed by the police to be Joel Proren and was alleged by them to have
helped Nielsen with the funds to purchase the Antonov in Latvia . Proren
was said to be part of a gold smuggling syndicate with Nielsen (‘Davey’) and
several Indians linked to the Purulia drop, especially ‘Randy’– whom police
thought to be Satyender Narain Singh, and whose younger brother Vinay had been
arrested in connection with the Purulia drop.54 The police said Proren was
German-born, but then a US citizen who was resident in Kansas. An official from
the US
consulate visited Proren. When travelling from Singapore , he had used the name of
‘Schneider Martin Conrad’, but had been using six names – Ken Sando, Roy Dogen,
Martin Olsen and Joel Proren. Asked what his real name was, he replied: ‘Call
me Hanu man.’55
__________________
1 This account is drawn largely from quoted
documents, and the words of Peter Bleach, particularly his account of the
affair published as ‘The Copenhagen Connection’, Sunday (reprinted from
Politiken, Denmark), 11–17 May 1997, but also from the following accounts:
Pranay Sharma, ‘RAW had Warned About the Covert An-26 Mission’, The Telegraph,
25 December 1995; Harinder Baweja; ‘Straining Credibility’, India Today, 11
March 1996; Chandan Nandy, ‘Indian Mole May Have Fled to Colombo’, The
Telegraph, 30 December 1996; Special Correspondent, ‘Vital Clues Unearthed in
Purulia Case’, The Hindu, 24 January 1997; Richard Norton-Taylor, ‘Gun Running Briton Faces
Indian Death Sentence’, The Guardian, 21 August 1997; Stephen Grey, ‘Ex-soldier
Abandoned after Tipping off Police’, The Sunday Times, 28 September 1997; Peter
Popham, ‘I was Betrayed by MoD, Says Briton Facing Execution’, The Independent,
9 July 1998; Raymond Bonner, ‘Legal Loopholes Make Arms Shipments Easy’, The
Globe and Mail, 15 July 1998; Saheli Mitra, ‘The Mystery of Arms and Men’, The
Telegraph, 13 January 1999; Oxfam UK, Out of Control, 1999; Anish Gupta with
Sourabh Sen, Soumen Dutta & Summit Das Gupta, ‘A Twist in the Trial’,
Special Report, Sunday, 30 May–4 June 1999; and Tyne Tees Television, ‘The
Bleach Conspiracy’, 25 August 1999. Where important details vary, an attempt
has been made to indicate a particular source.
2 Peter Bleach, ‘The Copenhagen Connection’.
3 Ibid. The other Dane has since denied that
arms were discussed, claiming that they discussed the transport of prawns and
turtles from Bangladesh to Hong Kong.
4 Ibid.
5 Peter Bleach, quoted by Bonner, ‘Legal Loopholes...’.
6 Bleach faxed a detailed account of the
planned operation to Colin Allkins at DESO on 18 August 1995, according to
Gupta et al., ‘A Twist in the Trial’. DESO is part of the UK Ministry of
Defence and employs about 700 staff to help UK arms manufacturers market and
sell their products abroad.
7 Bleach, ‘The Copenhagen Connection’. Bleach
subsequently told the UK police that the letter of credit was worth $460,000.
8 Bonner, ‘Legal Loopholes…’.
9 The Hindu, 24 January 1997; Sunday, 11 May
1997; Bonner, ‘Legal Loopholes...’.
10 Bleach, ‘The Copenhagen Connection’. A copy
of Bleach’s fax of 18 August 1995 to Colin All-kins at DESO was published in
Sunday, 1–7 January 1997.
11 Gupta et al., who quote from court
evidence. Richard Norton-Taylor, ‘Army Told of Indian Arms Deal’, The Guardian,
12 September 1997, also quotes from Bleach’s correspondence, saying Bleach gave
the UK police the precise grid reference for the arms drop.
12 Bleach, ‘The Copenhagen Connection’.
13 Tyne Tees Television, ‘The Bleach
Conspiracy’.
14 Bleach, ‘The Copenhagen Connection’.; Peter
Popham, ‘I was Betrayed…’.
15 Stephen Grey, ‘Ex-soldier Abandoned…’.
16 According to Caroline Lees & Simon
Hinde, ‘Sky Full of Rifles Alerts Indians to Brewing Revolt’, The Sunday Times,
1 January 1996, Bleach had reportedly tendered to supply Russian-made
helicopters to the Bangladeshi Ministry of Defence but had not won the
contract.
17 Bleach, ‘The Copenhagen Connection’.
18 Ibid.
19 The Hindu, 24 January 1997.
20 Bonner, ‘Legal Loopholes...’.
21 lbid. In addition, Oxfam, Out of Control,
claims that shares of Carol Air were transferred to an investment company
registered in the Isle of Man in November 1995.
22 Gupta et al., ‘A Twist in the Trial’.
According to Oxfam and Grey, op. cit., BTI also had an address in Abingdon,
Oxfordshire.
23 Oxfam, Out of Control. According to Grey,
the Bangladeshi end-user certificate appears to have been a forgery. According
to Bonner, Bleach claimed that BTI were paid $165,000 for the first shipment.
24 Bonner, ‘Legal Loopholes...’.
25 Gupta et al., ‘A Twist…’.
26 Oxfam quotes from a fax ‘between’ BTI and
Bleach on 10 November 1995 that defines the consignment from KAS engineering as
300 AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles, 15 Makarov pistols, two sniper rifles
with night vision sights, 2 night vision binoculars, 25,000 rounds of rifle
ammunition, 6,000 rounds of pistol ammunition, 10 RPG-7 rocket launchers, 100
anti-tank grenades, 100 ordinary grenades, and 25 PM79 anti-personnel mines.
Another fax quoted by Oxfam from BTI to KAS Engineering [no date given] states
that: ‘Commercial invoice should describe goods as "goods as per contract
No. 046-HPS 10.11.95" to keep within the ideal of our Swiss Bank.’ Oxfam,
Out of Control.
27 Tyne Tees Television, ‘The Bleach
Conspiracy’.
28 Pranay Sharma reports the Indian aviation
authorities’ allegation that the crew were allowed to make a trial ‘dry run’
flight to India in December 1995 before loading the arms for West Bengal, but
this may be confused with the November flight from Riga. It appears that the
crew and the Bulgarians were told the arms were for delivery to Bangladesh.
Sharma, ‘RAW had Warned…’.
29 Popham, ‘I was Betrayed…’.
30 Norton-Taylor, ‘Gun Running Briton’. Lees
& Hinde, ‘Sky Full of Rifles…’, report that Bleach said half the arms
consignment was left in Karachi.
31 Gupta et al., ‘A Twist in the Trial’.
32 Tyne Tees Television, ‘The Bleach
Conspiracy’.
33 Sharma, ‘RAW had Warned…’; Ashis A. Biswas,
‘Still in a Maze’, Outlook (India), 26 February 1997.
34 Gupta et al., ‘A Twist in the Trial’;
Baweja, ‘Straining Credibility’.
35 Gupta et al. ‘A Twist in the Trial’.
36 Baweja, ‘Straining Credibility’. Michael
Howard, the UK Home Secretary, confirmed in January 1996 that his officials had
informed the Indian authorities of the plan.
37 Gupta et al., ‘A Twist in the Trial’.
38 Ibid.
39 Tim McGirk, ‘Would-be Hero Poisoned by his
Own Sting’, The Independent, 11 September 1996.
40 For this account see Grey, ‘Ex-soldier
Abandoned…’; Nandy, ‘Indian Mole…’; Bonner, ‘Legal Loopholes…’.
41 Mitra, ‘The Mystery of Arms and Men’.
42 Pranay Sharma, ‘Pakistan Suspected in Arms
Drop’, The Telegraph, 22 December 1995.
43
Murali Krishnan & Sinjoy Chowdury,
‘LTTE Theory Gaining Ground’, The Telegraph,
30
December 1995; AFP, ‘India to Buy Arms from Romania’, 16 January 1996.
44 Murali Krishnan, ‘Pvt Air Services to be
Combed’, The Telegraph, 30 December 1996.
45 The Telegraph, 11 December 1996.
46 Lees & Hinde, ‘Sky Full of Rifles…’.
47 Mitra, ‘The Mystery of Arms and Men’;
Special Correspondent, The Hindu, ‘Vital Clues…’; Bleach claims that ‘Davey’
had bribed all the necessary police in India to ensure that his gold smugglers
were released within 24 hours (Bleach, ‘The Copenhagen Connection’).
48 Special Correspondent, The Hindu , ‘Vital
Clues…’; Tyne Tees Television, ‘The Bleach Conspiracy’.
49 BBC Radio 4, 11 September 1998.
50 Christopher Hudson, who visited Bleach in
1997, told BBC Radio 4 : ‘He was dealing here with hardened criminals who were
anxious that he knew too much. These were not the men to go back on a deal
with. Having entered it, he couldn't just back off – as the authorities claimed
could happen. That isn't the way it’s done. Once you're inside the tent you
stay inside because to venture out is to face death.’ Hudson also claimed that
Bleach’s health was deteriorating in prison, with gangrene in his toes. ‘It’s a
horrid, terrible prison. He has to defecate in a bucket. There’s a smell of raw
sewage everywhere.’ The Latvian crew’s relatives complained that the prison
conditions for their men were worse than Bleach’s, and that there were no legal
representation or family or consular visits. Two of the men had serious medical
conditions.
51 BBC Radio 4; Norton-Taylor, ‘Gun Running
Briton’.
52 Ibid.
53 Staff Reporter, ‘Armsdrop Trial Begins
Today’, The Telegraph, 1 August 1997.
54 Nandy & Murshed, ‘RAW Tip-off to
Arrest Arms Drop Suspect’, The Telegraph, Calcutta, 22 January 1997; Special
Correspondent, The Hindu, ‘Vital Clues…’; Mitra, ‘The Mystery of Arms and Men’.
55 Special Correspondent, The Hindu, ‘Vital
Clues…’. Hanuman is the much-loved Hindu monkey-god who is invincible, the most
intelligent being on earth and one of the very few Hindu gods who lives on
earth in a physical incarnation at all times.
__________________
Preface / Acknowledgments /
Introduction / Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 /
Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11
Next...
END OF DOCUMENT
25/11/1999 - NISAT
