In a shocking development, the Bangladesh High Court has acquitted former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar and five other death row, accused in the 2004 10-truck arms smuggling case in Chittagong. The court also reduced the death sentence of United Liberation Front (ULFA) chief Paresh Barua to life imprisonment.
The High Court bench comprising Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Nasreen Akter delivered the verdict on December 18, 2024, following hearings on the death reference and appeals in the case. Deputy Attorney General Sultana Akter Rubi and Assistant Attorney General Md Asif Imran Zeesan represented the state during the hearings. Earlier, on November 6, hearings were held regarding the death reference and appeals of the accused in the 10-truck arms smuggling case, reported Dhaka Tribune.
Notably, on August 12, 2024, Organiser Weekly had first reported this news that Bangladesh’s Interim Government Chief Advisor, Muhammad Yunus, has approved the acquittal of several high-profile individuals previously sentenced to death for their involvement in the notorious 10-truck arms haul case wherein weapons and explosives were provided to United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) terrorists.
Big news
Bangladesh High Court acquits Babar in 10-truck arms haul case
Court also reduced death sentence of ULFA’s Paresh Barua to life imprisonment. I had first reported this development in August. https://t.co/K8alpwfvMD
— Ravi Mishra (रवि ರವಿ রাবি) (@RaviMishra2029) December 18, 2024
What is 10-truck arms haul case?
Notably, according to the Daily Star, Bangladesh, a Chittagong court on January 30, 2014, had handed down the death penalty to 14 people, including ex-ministers Lutfozzaman Babar and Motiur Rahman Nizami and former top intelligence officials, for smuggling 10 truckloads of arms into Chittagong during the last BNP-led government’s tenure. The verdict points to the state machinery’s involvement in the smuggling of the huge cache of weapons meant for the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa), an insurgent group in North East.
Rocket shells are kept in a wooden box, bottom left; police drive a truck loaded with firearms to Dampara Police Lines, top left; army men show an American light machine-gun to State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar, top right; and police guard wooden boxes of high-profile arms including AK-47 rifles after joint forces seized the largest ever cache of weapons in Chittagong on April 2 in 2004.
Importantly, after August 5, 2024, Bangladesh Chief Advisor, Muhammad Yunus was acquitted in a bribe case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over the misappropriation of funds from the Grameen Telecom Workers and Employees Welfare Fund, Bangladesh-based daily, Dhaka Tribune reported.
