NEWS - Bangladesh Arrests Myanmar M

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Subject: NEWS - Bangladesh Arrests Myanmar Men with Live Grenades

Bangladesh Arrests Myanmar Men with Live Grenades

               Reuters
               16-MAR-99

               COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, March 16 (Reuters) -
               Bangladeshi border guards have arrested five
               Myanmar men carrying grenades, guns and
               ammunition, security officials said on Tuesday. 

               They said the group was detained near the
               Bangladesh border town of Teknaf on Monday, on
               the Naf river that flows between Cox's Bazar district
               and Myanmar's western Arakan province. 

               "The grenades were live and of the type usually
               used by the army," said Colonel Waliullah of
               Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), the border force. 

               "We also seized weapons including a pistol and
               ammunitions for rifles," he told Reuters by
               telephone. 

               "Two sets of uniforms which the Nasaka (Myanmar
               border force) put on while on duty were also seized
               from the arrested men," he said. 

               "The group may be a gang of dacoits (robbers)... but
               we are surprised to see live army grenades in their
               possession. Police are interrogating them," one
               Teknaf official said. 

               "The group was challenged and arrested by the
               BDR while moving in a boat at Babarmokam, a
               fishing village in Teknaf," he said. 

               On Saturday, the BDR arrested three unarmed
               members of outlawed Arakan Army of Myanmar also
               at Teknaf, police said without giving details.