The first weapons’ consignment of the outlawed separatist outfit, the United Liberation Front of Asom or Ulfa, came from Romania in a deal firmed up by an Indian-origin man who allegedly worked for the Israeli spy agency Mossad, according to a soon-to-be-launched book.The Singapore-based agent had travelled to Romania’s capital Bucharest with Ulfa chief of staff Paresh Baruah and two other functionaries of the outfit to seal the deal that consisted of assault rifles, pistols, light machine guns and explosives.The episode which had remained under wraps happened in mid-1993, almost two years after the Ulfa leadership shifted its base to Bangladesh to evade arrest by Indian security forces, reveals the book titled, 'Ulfa: The Mirage of Dawn' (Harper Collins).

This incident was not linked to the widely publicised Chittagong case of 2004, in which 10 truck-loads of arms and ammunition meant for the Ulfa and a few other rebel groups were confiscated by Bangladeshi security forces.The book, a copy of which is with TOI, offers a panoramic perspective of the rebel group.

Based on decade-long field research by journalist and author Rajeev Bhattacharyya, it focusses on Ulfa's foreign bases and operations that extended from Pakistan and Bhutan to Bangladesh, Myanmar and China.

The Ulfa had suffered a vertical split more than a decade ago after its top leaders including chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa were handed over by Bangladeshi security forces to India.Thereafter, the faction headed by Rajkhowa joined the peace process and an accord with the government is likely to be inked soon.

Baruah, who leads a smaller faction called the Ulfa (Independent), has so far shunned the government’s offer, insisting on the “sovereignty” demand.Details about the arms deal“After months of trying to hook up a contact, Baruah succeeded in gathering details about an agent in Singapore whose parents had migrated from Tamil Nadu several decades ago.He was closely associated with Mossad, and also doubled up as a gun merchant occasionally to earn a quick buck,” mentions the book with details about how the deal was finalised.

Two senior Ulfa functionaries who were in Bangladesh had revealed details about the Indian-origin Mossad agent.

In Bucharest, Baruah sat in a meeting with none other than Romania’s then-foreign secretary who asked a volley of queries about ULFA and its requirement of weapons.

Subsequently, the chief was shown a wide array of weapons from where he made the selection.

Finally, the transaction entailed about 600 weapons which were to be delivered after a month by a ship near the Chittagong port in Bangladesh where the entire top brass of Ulfa lived.From Romania, the Ulfa trio (one of them was Lachit Hazarika alias Salim who was recently awarded ‘capital punishment’ by the militant outfit at a camp in Myanmar) headed to Ukraine with the agent from Singapore for a brief sojourn where they also explored the possibility of purchasing weapons in the future.Back in Bangladesh, Baruah hired a trawler from Chittagong port to be taken to the seas for receiving the weapons.

The agent from Singapore also accompanied Baruah’s team to the seas but the ship was nowhere to be traced for two nights.“It was resolved that the [Mossad] agent would make efforts to contact his sources in Bucharest to ensure the ship’s arrival at the chosen location.

But something unexpected happened before he could embark on the task,” according to the book.

“The ship arrived at Chittagong and moored at a location brimming with police personnel.” The ship could not be traced by the Ulfa squad because it had charted a different route.

The Ulfa squad was alarmed when it came to know about the ship's arrival at the port.

Loading the weapons onto trucks without the knowledge of the police appeared to be an uphill task.

Nor could the ship be allowed to remain moored in the port indefinitely.

Even as Baruah was pondering over the next course of action came the news that the entire consignment had been seized by the police.

The Mossad agent managed to fly out of Bangladesh to Singapore but he went “missing” within a few months, never to be traced again.

Ulfa functionaries, who were in Bangladesh back then, believed that he was killed by the Israeli spy agency after his links with the rebel outfit were exposed.