Shahidul Islam Rubel, Netrakona

BNP leader and former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar has also been acquitted in a case filed under the Arms Act in the much-discussed Chittagong incident of the seizure of 10 trucks of weapons.

The High Court announced the verdict in the much-discussed case on Tuesday (January 14).

Former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar and five others have been acquitted in the case. In the case, Paresh Barua, a military commander of the Indian separatist organization ULFA, has been sentenced to various terms of imprisonment.

Earlier, on December 18 last year, the court acquitted five people, including former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar and former Director General of NSI (retired) Major General Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, in an arms smuggling case. As a result, Lutfuzzaman Babar was acquitted by the High Court in both the cases of the incident under discussion. Babar's lawyer said that Babar will be released anytime when the copy of the High Court's verdict reaches Keraniganj Prison.

On January 30, 2014, the Chittagong Special Tribunal-1 sentenced 14 accused, including former Industries Minister and Jamaat Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami, former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar and ULFA military commander Paresh Barua, to death in two cases involving the seizure of 10 trucks of arms. And in the arms case, all 14 accused were sentenced to life imprisonment.

On April 1, 2004, a consignment of 10 trucks full of arms was seized from the jetty of Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL). Later, two cases were filed at Karnaphuli Police Station under the Arms Act and the Special Powers Act in this incident.