Salt smuggler of Burma

A true story by Col V K Bali

It was summer of 1990 when I was ordered to proceed on deputation to the famous Assam Rifles battalion located in Southern Mizoram state …my headquarters were located quite near to the tri junction of three international borders of Burma, India and Bangladesh ….it was a smugglers Hotspot for different reasons
The Burmese smugglers specialized in smuggling drugs, mainly from Thailand and household goods like blankets and gift items etc which were openly available in markets of North East
The Bangladeshis were helping insurgents groups of various affiliations in smuggling arms and munitions from China,Vietnam and other sources tapped by Pakistani ISI operatives active in Bangladesh after its formation in 1971
So for me there was never a dull moment sitting on this ultra sensitive area…almost 24 hours duty for four years …….
Almost every two hours of day or night the radio operator would show me confidential msgs received or intercepted by our wireless networks and passed on to the relevant persons
One day around midnight my Army line telephone kept on ringing persistently till I picked it up reluctantly …..the tone of urgency of wireless operator on the other side was quite palpable….
” Yessssss …..” I almost growled unhappily into the mike
” Sahab…Top Urgent Msg hai “….. answered the duty operator….he trailed off
Wide awake now ,I realized the urgency ” Yes…..bolo …”
” Sahab information mila hai ki ek Nagaland ka Insurgent group ko Rifles ,ammunition aur Saman mila hai …..woh group Bangladesh se India mein enter karne wala hai next 48 hrs men ….usko capture karna hai ….area Demagiri se aa sakta hai ….. Jai Hind Sahab ” the operator trailed off and the midnight silence in Jungles around enveloped my camp once again
My sleep had vanished by now and I still felt the cold plastic handset of Army telephone…I quietly kept it back on the phone cradle and rubbed my hands …to feel real again
My orderly who slept just next to my tent coughed gently…..a signal that he was also up and awake
” Harka Bahadur ” ….I called softly …
” Ram Ram Sahab…..Chai Sahab ????” ….The Gurkha knew me very well and was very devoted
I nodded and smiled at Harka…..and he was back in a jiffy…
That tea with milk powder had its typical flavor….not very likeable but anyway that was the best available there
At four I called my group leaders about our plan of action and by the Crack of dawn all were out to cover the likely routes of Insurgent group by ambush sites
My personal group was small and basically controlled all the other groups
When we were going through a thick jungle, there was a sudden commotion and some noise of footsteps of someone running…being a good runner myself I followed and caught up with that person with Harka Bahadur close behind …we had a short fistfight and I was able to knock him down with a punch at his right ear…that guy hit the ground and Harka Bahadur quickly tied his hands with a cord and made him lie face down while searching his body for weapons or drugs
We found nothing apart from Rs Forty Thousands in Indian currency and some kind of a list written in Burmese script in a torn purse….
So this man was a Burmese smuggler and not connected with the Bangladesh smuggling operation..our subsequent interrogation with our Burmese speaking interpreter confirmed the same. …
His eyes lit up when I spoke in Burmese language which I still remembered in bits as I got educated at St Xavier I Mandalay when my father was Indian Mission Head there in fifties
Thereafter he came out with his story …he told me that he was a poor guy from a village which could be seen from our post atop a mountain in Burma…just about ten kms from the indo Burma border …he had a small patch of land and very poor ..
In order to cater to his needs, he did the smuggling of essential items between Burma and india and used to get a small commission…..from Burma he brought rice ,chicken and Buffaloes to sell in India and took back kerosene oil,salt and some condiments ..then he explained me the shopping list that we found in his pocket and explained what the rs forty thousand was supposed to buy
I let him off and gave back his money to him with an understanding that he was to become our informer and warn us of the drug smuggling activities in our area from Burmese side …
He met often thereafter and gave us tit bits of useful information and gradually became a more useful source of intelligence for our sector….
It was two years later that based on his information we caught a huge cache of drugs on the indo Burmese border…….we were much appreciated for this breakthrough
But then…many local agents because jobless …….made matter political etc etc
Same is happening in Manipur today …..it’s a war to stop drugs and human trafficking