Five arrested with huge cache of arms and explosives

KATHMANDU, April 7: Police has busted an armed group named Nepal Communist Party “Bidhrohi Maobadi” that was reportedly planning to carry out bomb blasts in 15 locations in the capital simultaneously in a show of its strength against the state. The group was preparing to shape itself up as a powerful terrorist wing.



Five founding members of the group, led by a former Maoist cadre, were arrested from different places in the capital as they were about to gather for a ´politburo´ meeting.[break]



Though Metropolitan Police Commissioner´s Office (MPCO) on Wednesday projected the bust as a success in deterring unprecedented violence by a politically motivated group, officials closely involved with the investigation said the group was merely seeking financial gains by means of violence and terror.



In its half year long operation, Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) has succeeded in apprehending several leaders of the group and seizing arms and ammunitions together with several materials and documents relating to the group´s functioning.



Lalit Limbu, a 29-year-old management student at the Tribhuvan University and a former Kathmandu District Committee member of the UCPN (Maoist), had been leading the group as its chairman. The other four arrested members include Bhim Ojha, a former activist of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) from Panchthar, Barun Shrestha, Ajay Thapa Magar and Netra Prasad Daha. They held the posts of vice-chairman, secretary, treasurer and military commander respectively in the party.

 

DIG Surendra Bahadur Shah of MPCO said that the group adopted a modus operandi of a politically motivated party but their only purpose seemed nothing but extracting money.



Investigative officials believe that the group must have imported many lethal explosives and arms though the arrested members have so far refused to cooperate in unearthing them all.



The documents seized from the group revealed their ghastly plans with April 15 as deadline. The plan included collecting 50 arms, forming an army of up to 1,000 individuals, extending the organization in 10 districts, tying up with Madhesi armed groups and carrying out physical assaults on selected individuals including senior police and army officials.



Police had been tracking down the group following a tip-off that a certain group had brought to Nepal some AK 47 rifles for criminal purposes. The Wednesday´s crackdown has revealed that they had placed an order for the lethal weapons which would arrive after two months.



The group, police found, was expecting a parcel of 15 small arms within a few days.

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