Back in December 1995, when a huge load of arms was air-dropped over Purulia district of West Bengal, it created a sensation that reverberated in the Indian media for months. Speculation was rife about who the weapons were meant for and theories floated about who could be seeking to "destabilise" India with the arms. Nothing as dramatic as that, says Subir Bhaumik, whose research into the antecedents of the prime accused in the affair, Jan Christien Neilson alias Kim Davy, has led to a story that seems straight out of Frederick Forsyth´s Dogs of War.
Weapons, insurgents, minerals —Jan Christien Neilson loves dealing in them, or with them. Neilson hails from Denmark, has more than 40 passports and as many aliases, and is believed to be the mastermind behind the armsdrop at Purulia. He speaks more than a dozen languages, including a smattering of Hindustani, and, according to his former accomplice Peter Bleach, "can manage to secure upto half a million dollars within a few hours over couple of telephone calls".
Even as Bleach, a former British army officer-turned-arms dealer, and the five members of the Latvian aircrew who manned the plane that made the drop were awarded life sentences in the Purulia case by the Calcutta city civil court in early February, Neilson, also known as Kim Davy (in Asia) and Peter Johnson (in Africa) remained elusive —at least for the Indian government. Some newspaper reports suggested he might surrender to a court in Denmark, but Bleach dismissed the idea contemptuously. "He is bigtime and there´s no way he will give up so easily," said he, soon after his sentencing.
Bleach is right. According to his (Bleach´s) friend and one-time British MP Sir Teddy Taylor, Neilson is often seen in the company of British and American intelligence officers and diplomats in Nairobi, from where they monitor and support the covert war against Khartoum. Taylor hints that the two Western powers "may indeed be protecting Neilson".