Lutfozzaman Babar acquitted in 10-truck arms haul case

Former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar and six others have been acquitted in 10-truck arms haul case.

They were sentenced to death in the case by a court in Chittagong in January 30, 2014.

A High Court bench of Justice Mostafa Zaman and Justice Nasrin Akhter handed down the judgement on Wednesday after hearing on the appeals of the convicts and death references.

The court, at the same time, commuted the death sentence of Ulfa military commander Paresh Barua to life imprisonment.

Chittagong Metropolitan Sessions Judge SM Mujibur Rahman on January 30, 2014, sentenced 14 people to death under the Special Powers Act. They were also handed life imprisonment and seven years’ imprisonment each under two sections of the arms case.

The 14 sentenced to death included former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, ULFA chief Paresh Barua, former DGFI director Maj Gen (retd) Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, and former NSI director general Abdur Rahim. The charges were related to smuggling under the Special Powers Act.

Of these convicts, Motiur Rahman Nizami was executed in 2016 for crimes against humanity.

Ten truckloads of arms were seized at the Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL) jetty on April 1, 2004.

Two cases – one under the Arms Act and another under the Special Powers Act – were filed with Karnaphuli Police Station the following day, naming 50 people as accused in the arms case and 52 in the other.