DHAKA, 7 March 2004 — A top aide to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has hinted the government may involve international agencies like Interpol or the FBI in the investigation of Bangladesh’s biggest-ever arms haul.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general and Local Government Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan said the government might open an international probe into the arms haul if domestic investigation failed.

On Friday security agencies in Chittagong foiled an attempt to smuggle a huge cache of arms.

However, Bhuiyan expressed hope the body comprising army specialists and intelligence personnel will produce results.

“First we have to complete the inquiry by our own staff,” Bhuiyan told reporters yesterday. He said the public was concerned there was a link between the opposition deadline for ousting the government and the discovery of the arms cache.

Accusations over links to the haul have been flying back and forth between government and opposition.

The investigation has taken a dramatic turn, with the latest clues suggesting the involvement of ruling coalition leaders.

Press reports yesterday quoted sources as saying they suspected the ruling alliance leaders were in charge of handling the consignment of rockets, rocket launchers, grenades, sub-machine guns, AK-47 rifles and bullets after its delivery at high seas from a cargo ship bound for Chittagong port.

Customs officials said they were examining the documents of three vessels — two fishing trawlers and a ship owned by a top BNP leader — believed to have been used in the attempt.

Intelligence agents alleged a local BNP legislator’s brother, who was earlier accused of a part in the abduction of business magnate Jamaluddin Ahmed, played the key role in the transport of the cache after its delivery off Chittagong.

He is accused of running a giant smuggling syndicate on the Anwara and Patiya coasts in collusion with law enforcement agencies, the Daily Star reported.

The intelligence officials also alleged labor leader Dil Mohammad, who has links to Jemaat-e-Islami employed workers at a jetty on the Karnaphuli to offload the arms from two fishing trawlers, and BNP leader Hafiz Mohammad supervised the clandestine operation along with a cooperative.

They went into hiding in the wake of the arms seizure.