10-truck arms haul: HC bench fixed for appeal hearing

Staff Correspondent: The Chief Justice (CJ) Syed Mahmud Hossain has fixed a bench of High Court (HC) for hearing on appeals and death references in the sensational 10-truck arms haul cases of Chittagong.

The bench of Justice Bhabani Prasad Singh and Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam will hear the appeals and death references in the case.

The case will be added to the cause list for the bench on Sunday.

On January 30, 2014, a special court in Chittagong handed down the death penalty to 14 people, including ex-ministers Lutfozzaman Babar and Motiur Rahman Nizami for smuggling 10 truckloads of arms into Chittagong during the last BNP-led government's tenure.

The 514-page full text verdict of the two cases filed in this connection were published on February 4, 2014.

Later, the appeals and death references reached HC for hearing.

The condemned convicts include five intelligence officials, including former DGFI (Directorate General of Forces Intelligence) director Maj Gen (retd) Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, former National Security Intelligence (NSI) director general Brig Gen (retd) Abdur Rahim, deputy director Maj (retd) Liakat Hossain, ex-NSI field officer Akbar Hossain Khan and former NSI director Wing Commander (retd) Shahab Uddin.

The court also awarded death penalty to Paresh Barua, military commander of Indian separatist group United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) which was allegedly going to receive the arms.

Of the condemned victims, who have also been awarded life term imprisonment in another case filed under the Arms Act, Paresh Barua and former additional secretary of industries ministry Nurul Amin have been absconding since the arms cache recovery.

The other condemned convicts are: Former CUFL general manager (admin) Enamul Hoque, ex-managing director of CUFL Mohsin Talukder, smuggler and prime accused Hafizur Rahman, Abdus Sobhan and Deen Islam.

Of the accused, ex-minister Motiur Rahman Nizami was executed in a case filed for crimes against humanity.

The huge cache of arms and ammunition which included 4,930 sophisticated firearms of different types, 840 rocket launchers, 300 rockets, 27,020 grenades, 2,000 grenade-launching tubes, 6,392 magazines and 11.41 million bullets were recovered on April 2, 2004 at the jetty of Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd (CUFL).

The arms and ammo were reportedly meant for Ulfa.

risingbd/Dhaka/March 22, 2018/Mehade/A K Azad