The High Court (HC) today acquitted former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar, along with four others, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in connection with the high-profile 10-truck arms haul case in Chattogram.
The verdict was delivered by an HC bench led by Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam in the case filed under the Special Powers Act for smuggling firearms, according to court sources.
Following today’s acquittal, there are no legal obstacles preventing Babar’s release from jail, his lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir confirmed.
Earlier, on December 18 last year, the same bench had acquitted Babar and five others in a separate case filed under the Arms Act related to the same incident. The trial court had previously sentenced them to death in that case.
Both cases originated from an incident on April 2, 2004, when a massive consignment of arms and ammunition was seized at the Chattogram Urea Fertiliser Ltd (CUFL) jetty during the BNP-Jamaat government’s tenure. The weapons haul included 4,930 advanced firearms, 840 rocket launchers, 300 rockets, 27,020 grenades, 2,000 grenade-launching tubes, 6,392 magazines, and 11.41 million bullets.
