'Intel high-ups tainted foreign policy'
The Chittagong court that dealt with the 10-truck arms smuggling incident expressed shock and surprise that high intelligence officials of the country had maintained contact with Ulfa leaders to strengthen the Indian separatist group.
The observation came in the full text of the verdict in two cases filed in connection with the April 2, 2004 arms haul in port city of Chittagong.
"The officials of Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and National Security Intelligence did not care for the Bangladesh’s relation with the neighbouring country," the court said in the judgement released today.
"Through their actions, they tried to harm Bangladesh’s relation with a brotherly country like India and tainted its (Bangladesh) foreign policy," the verdict read.
A special court in Chittagong delivered the verdicts on January 30 almost 10 years after the sensational smuggling.
Judge SM Mojibur Rahman of Chittagong Metropolitan Special Tribunal-1 signed the verdicts.
The verdict of a case filed for the act of smuggling is 260 pages while the other one, filed under Arms Act, is 254 pages, Omar Fuad, a bench assistant of the tribunal, told The Daily Star.
The full verdicts will be sent to the High Court very soon for next course of action, he added.
On January 30, the tribunal handed down death penalty to 14 including Jamaat chief and then industries minister Motiur Rahman Nizami, then state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and Paresh Barua, the then army chief of United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) for smuggling in 10 truckloads of firearms.
The arms and ammo loaded on 10-trucks were reportedly meant for Ulfa.
The court also awarded life term imprisonment to the 14 convicts in the case filed under the Arms Act.
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