India frees British arms dealer
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- A convicted British arms dealer walked out of an East Indian prison Wednesday after receiving a pardon from India's president, according to jail officials.
Peter Bleach was sentenced to life in prison four years ago for transporting and delivering guns to India. He has been imprisoned since he was arrested in 1995.
British officials, including Home Minister David Blunkett, had appealed to the Indian government for leniency.
Last week, Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam agreed to waive the remainder of Bleach's life sentence.
Bleach was arrested along with five others as they were trying to leave India after dropping a huge cache of guns and military equipment outside the remote village of Purulia in the eastern state of Bengal in December 1995, according to Indian officials.
They were convicted by a local court for "waging war against the Indian state," although the exact purpose of the mysterious midnight arms drop has never been clearly established.
According to state officials, the arms and ammunition were meant to be passed onto left-wing militant groups based in Eastern India. In February 2000, the convicting judge sentenced all six accused to rigorous life imprisonment and a fine of about $1,333 each.
Bleach's accomplices, who were Latvians from the former Soviet Union, were released in July 2000 after pressure and appeals from high ranking Russian officials.
Bleach's release comes just ahead of a four-day visit to India by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
British High Commission spokesman Paul Walsh confirmed that Peter Bleach had been released from his jail in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta).
