The court of SM Mojibur Rahman, judge of the Metropolitan Special Tribunal-1, is scheduled to hand down the verdict in the Chittagong arms haul cases on January 30. Rahman on Monday fixed the date to pass the verdict, nine years after the country’s biggest arms haul cases, after hearing the argument of defence lawyers. Defence lawyers have been asked to submit further arguments, if any, in writing to the court by January 23. However, defence lawyers claimed that the prosecution has failed to prove any allegation against the accused in the case.
Earlier, on Sunday, the prosecution had presented its argument on two cases filed in connection with the arms haul cases and demanded highest punishment for the accused.
Contingents of police and Coast Guard personnel had raided the Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Ltd. (CUFL) jetty area on April 1, 2004 and recovered a huge quantity of illegal arms and ammunition. Two separate cases were filed with Karnaphuli Police Station in connection with the biggest ever arms haul in the country. The cases are lodged under Special Powers Act (Section 25/B) for arms smuggling and under the Special Powers Act (Section 19/A) for illegal possession and transportation of arms.
However, the investigation of the cases was allegedly hampered during the regime of the BNP-led government. Later, in 2007, during the regime of the 1/11 caretaker government, the court responded to the appeal of former additional metropolitan public prosecutor Humayun Kabir and ordered further investigation into the case.
After investigating the cases for more than three years, the investigating officer of the case, Mohammad Moniruzzaman, had submitted the charge-sheet on June 26, 2011, accusing 11 more accused, including former minister Motiur Rahman Nizami, former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar, and a former director general and deputy director of the National Security Intelligence (NSI) for their alleged involvement in the arms haul.
Courtesy of The Independent
