The main accused in the sensational 10-truck arms haul case have been brought to Chittagong ahead of the verdict on Thursday.
Chittagong Sessions and Special Tribunal-1 Judge SM Mojibur Rahman will deliver the judgment in two cases filed over the arms haul during the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami coalition government’s 2001-6 term.
Jamaat chief and former Industry Minister Motiur Rahman Nizami and BNP leader former State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar were taken to Chittagong from Dhaka on Wednesday evening.
Chittagong prison’s Superintendent Rafiqul Quader said two former National Security Intelligence (NSI) chiefs Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, and Abdur Rahim had been brought to the jail on Tuesday.
Ten trucks of weapons and ammunition were seized from state-owned Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd (CUFL) jetty in the port city while being offloaded from trawlers in the early hours of April 2, 2004.
Around 1,500 wooden boxes containing submachine guns, AK-47 assault rifles, submachine carbines, Chinese pistols, rocket shells and launchers, hand grenades and bullets were seized.
Five other accused in the cases have been kept at the Chittagong Central Jail.
They are former NSI Director Wing Commander (rtd) Shahabuddin, former NSI Deputy Director Major (rtd) Liakat Hossain, former NSI Field Officer (rtd) Akbar Hossain, former CUFL Managing Director Mohsin Uddin Taluker and former General Manager (Administration) KM Enamul Haq.
Apart from them, alleged smugglers Hafizur Rahman and Deen Mohammad are also behind bars.
The 2004 arms haul, biggest in Bangladesh’s history, had created quite a sensation.
Five investigation officers had probed the cases.
During the 2007-08 caretaker government’s tenure, the court ordered further investigation based on seven observations.
CID’s Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police Monituzzaman Chowdhury was tasked with probing the cases on Jan 29, 2009.
He filed subsidiary charge-sheets in the cases on June 26, 2011, accusing 11 others including Nizami, Babar and two former NSI chiefs.
The charge-sheets said the arms and ammunition had been manufactured in China.
State counsel Kamal Uddin Ahmed had claimed that they had been shipped in for Indian separatists.
Indian separatist outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) leader Paresh Barua is accused in the two cases filed under the Arms Act and Special Powers Act for smuggling of arms. He is absconding.
During the trial, the prosecution alleged that the weapons and ammunition were smuggled in for ULFA with the backing of the then BNP-Jamaat alliance government.
It also alleged obstructions to the cases’ investigation during that government’s tenure.
Source: Bd news24
