BANDARBAN, Mar 4 (BDNEWS): Members of Army and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in a 36-hour long joint drive recovered a huge amount of abandoned arms and ammunitions from a hill at the link point of Alikadam and Naikkhangchhari Upazila in the district early Saturday. The arms cache include five AK-47 rifles, two M-16 rifles, one M-1 A-1 type heavy machine gun, 18 rocket shells, 20 anti-personnel mines, 12 grenades, 27 US made claymore anti-personnel mines, 31 Fin explosive charged rocket launchers, one two-inch rocket shell, one G-3 rifle, one 7.62 rifle, one T-1 A-1 type machine gun, one German made G-3 LMG, one 40 MM rocket launcher, one Russia made 9 MM submachine carbine, one heavy HBBL and two HBBLs. Besides, ammunitions including 19 SMG magazines, eight M-16 magazines, three G-3 LMG magazines and about 7000 rounds of live bullets were also recovered. A spokesperson of Bandarban region headquarters of the security forces said it was the most successful drive in the last three years. Commander of 11 East Bengal Regiment of the Army Azimullah Bahar and Commander of 40 Rifle Battalion Abdul Awal Bir Protik led their respective teams in the joint drive. Acting on a tip off, the joint forces began the drive Friday afternoon. At one stage they found two hideouts of foreign terrorists at a point of Mirinja hill Friday night and cordoned off the area. Later, the joint forces recovered the arms and ammunitions hidden under the earth. But they did not mention the name of the terrorist organisation that used those arms.
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