Babar, several others acquitted in 10-truck arms haul case

The High Court has acquitted former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar and several others, who were sentenced to death, in the 10-truck arms haul case in Chattogram.

The HC bench comprising Justice Mostafa Zaman Islam and Justice Nasreen Akter delivered the verdict on Wednesday (December 18).

A huge quantity of arms and ammunition, reportedly meant for Indian separatist organisation United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), was captured at the then Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd jetty in Chattogram on April 2, 2004, when it was being loaded onto 10 trucks.

A smuggling case and an arms case were filed with Karnaphuli Police Station the following day.

On January 30, 2014, Chattogram Metropolitan Special Tribunal-1 handed down death penalty to 14 people, including former minister and Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami and former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar of BNP, for smuggling 10 truckloads of firearms.

The same defendants received life sentences in a separate arms case, along with additional seven-year terms. Each convict was fined Tk5 lakh as well.

Other death row convicts were – former NSI DG Maj Gen (retired) Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, former NSI DG Brig Gen (retired) Abdur Rahim, former DGFI director (security) wing commander Shahabuddin Ahmed, former NSI deputy director Maj (retired) Liakat Hossain, former NSI field officer Akbar Hossain Khan, former managing director of Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Limited (CUFL) Mohsin Uddin Talukder, former CUFL general manager (administration) KM Enamul Haq, former acting industries secretary Nurul Amin, accused smuggler Hafizur Rahman, labour supplier Din Mohammad, and trawler owner Haji Abdur Sobhan.

Twelve of the convicts filed separate appeals with the HC in 2014.

Nizami was executed on May 11, 2016, after the Supreme Court upheld his death penalty for committing crimes against humanity during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.