Gallows for Nizami, Babar, Paresh in Ctg arms haul case

Former ministers Matiur Rahman Nizami and Lutfuzzaman Babar were among 14 people getting death penalty in Chittagong 10-truck arms haul cases filed about a decade ago. Chittagong Metropolitan Sessions Judge and Special Tribunal-1 judge SM Mojibur Rahman delivered the verdict in presence of 11 accused, including Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami and BNP leader Lutfuzzaman Babar on Thursday afternoon. Military wing chief of Indian separatist organisation United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) Paresh Barua was also handed down capital punishment in the two cases filed under the Arms Act and Special Powers Act for smuggling arms into Bangladesh in 2004. Police produced before court in the morning 11 of the accused in the arms haul case including former industries minister Nizami and former state minister for home affairs Babar for the verdict. Judge SM Mojibur Rahman started reading out the judgment in presence of 11 accused around 11am. The court also awarded life sentence in the second case under the Arms Act to all the fourteen. A total of 52 people were accused in the two cases. The others who got death and life in the two cases are- former Industries Secretary Nurul Amin, former NSI field officer Akbar Hossain Khan, former NSI Director (Security) Wing Commander (retd) Shahabuddin, former NSI Director General (DG) Brigadier General (retd) Md Abdur Rahim, former DGFI Director Major General (retd) Rezakul Haider Chowdhury, former NSI Deputy Director (Technical) Major (retd) Liakat Hossain, former Managing Director of CUFL Mohsin Uddin Talukder and General Manager (administration) KM Enamul Haq. Smugglers Hafizur Rahman, Deen Mohammad and their accomplice Haji Md Abdus Sobhan were also given death penalty in the case filed under Special Power Act for smuggling of arms. Of them, ex-Industries Secretary Nurul Amin and Paresh Barua have been absconding. Haji Md Abdus Sobhan was brought in the court for the judgment and later the police took him to jail. He was out on bail. The 14 have been fined Tk 500,000 subject to approval of the High Court. All of them were given life in prison in the second case filed under the Arms Act. The court also awarded the 14 rigorous imprisonments for seven years under the Section 19 (f) of the Arms Act. An earlier report said, four of the accused were taken to Chittagong Central Jail from Dhaka and Kashimpur jails. The prosecution had claimed that they proved the charges and sought the highest punishment of the accused while the defence had sought the acquittal of their clients, saying the state lawyers had 'failed' to prove the charges. The Jail Super of Chittagong Central Jail said Babar and Nizami had reached Chittagong from Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur at 7:00pm on Wednesday amid tight security. Two other accused Brig Gen (retd) Abdur Rahim and Maj Gen (retd) Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury arrived in Chittagong Central Jail from Dhaka Central Jail on Tuesday night, he said. The judgment has been pronounced after a long wait since the seizure of the country's largest-ever arms consignments in the early hours of April 2, 2004. The weapons 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, according to a news agency.