Bleach may be freed next month: report

LONDON, DEC. 24. India is expected to release soon Peter Bleach, jailed for life in the Purulia arms dropping case, following pleas for mercy by the British Government, a media report said here today.

The 48-year old former British army officer could be released before, or just after a visit to India by the Trade and Industry Secretary, Mr. Stephen Byers, next month, the Sunday Times has reported.

The report said a senior Indian Home Ministry source confirmed that ``a decision in principle had been taken to release Bleach, who has been confined to a solitary cell in Calcutta's Presidency Jail for five years.'' The plea for mercy was on the President's desk waiting to be approved, it said, quoting the source.

In December 1995, an AntoNov cargo plane dropped 300 assault rifles, 80 anti-tank grenades, 10 rocket launchers and 24,000 rounds of ammunition near Purulia, West Bengal. The AntoNov, crewed by five Latvians recruited by Bleach, landed in Phuket, Thailand. For reasons that have never been explained, it flew back to India four days later, heading for Karachi in Pakistan. Bleach was held when it landed in Mumbai.

Bleach claimed that he had kept MI5, British intelligence agency, informed about the deal. The case was largely ignored by the government until July, when the Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, negotiated the pardon of the five Latvians who, with Bleach, were given life terms this year. Soon after, the British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Robin Cook, and the Home Secretary, Mr.Jack Straw, raised the issue with their Indian counterparts. Last month Mr. Cook formally wrote to the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, asking for a pardon.

- PTI

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