'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part II. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎2584] (1101/1262)

2584
2iid May
1907.
Request 'of
the Persian
Government
for British
military
assistance,
May 1907.
luvestiga-
tions by
Major
Kennion in
Sistan, Sep
tember 1907.
Kacha gorge on the 2nd of May, being driven by the levies from behind
on to the regular infantry who lay in ambush at the exit of the gorge.
This caravan consisted of about 100 camels, and it was accompanied by
40 or 50 armed Afghans, who scattered to the surrounding hills and main
tained a stout fight from behind cover until the afternoon. In all 795
rifles and nearly 67,000 rounds of ammunition were abandoned by the
smugglers, and over 70 of their camels were either killed or captured. A
Baluchi guide who conducted the caravan was killed in the engagement,
and a number of other casualties were believed to have been inflicted.
The pecuniary loss to the owners, including two camel-loads of cartridges
which were exploded by bullets striking them, was estimated at not less
than Rs. 1 ,00,000 by local value, representing a very much larger sum in
the Ghazni market. Examination of the captured arms showed that the
majority were Snider rifles of private manufacture or Martinis which
had been publicly sold by various Australian Governments, while the
remainder were mostly Martinis of private manufacture or rifles of
European Continental patterns, the last being probably condemned
military arms. Some papers taken indicated that the Afghan Governor
of Herat was cognisant of the trade in arms, and that he befriended those
engaged in it. Four months later the affair became a subject of corre
spondence between His Majesty the Amir of Afghanistan and the
Viceroy of India, the former complaining that certain of his Nasir subjects
of the Qandahar district, lawfully engaged in the arms trade, had been
waylaid and plundered by the servants of the British Government* In a
letter dated 11th September the Amir stated that two of the traders had
been killed and three wounded, while five were still missing; of all of
these the actual names were given.
This success of the British authorities encouraged the Persian Govern
ment to apply, at the end of May, through the British M inister at Tehran
for the assistance of British troops, if required, on the Persian side of the
frontier in order to capture a third Afghan arms caravan, which was
believed to be moving northwards in the neighbourhood of the boundary.
Chiefly on account of the disturbed state of general politics and of popular
feeling in Persia, the request was declined; it had, indeed, almost imme
diately been withdrawn by the Persian Government themselves, in so far
as it related to British co-operation in Persian territory; and subsequent
enquiries made it somewhat doubtful whether the supposed caravan ever
really existed.
Meanwhile the routes used by Afghan gun-runners in the neighbour
hood of the Perso-Afghan frontier had been studied by Major R.L.
Kennion, His Britannic Majesty^s Consul for Sistan and Qain. In
September 1907 Major Kennion reported that north of Bazman there
were two groups of routes, viz., those leading to Herat and those leading
to Qandahar; and that travellers to Herat generally entered Afghanistan
near Lash-Juwain, while those whose destination was Qandahar made
for Band-i-Kamal Khan on the bank of the Helmand, or for some place
m that vicinity. From Major Kennion^s report it was clear that arms
caravans proceeding to Afghanistan from the south were not obliged, in
any circumstances, to enter British territory at all; also that in Persia
there was no prospect of effective action being taken by the authorities
gainst smugglers of arms. According to Major Kennion's information
iuo.