2 Pakistanis to die

A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced two Pakistanis to death as 24kg heroin was seized from them in 1999, the largest ever heroin haul in the country.

Judge Mohammad Shamsul Alam Khan of the Court of First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge handed down the verdict in presence of the convicts -- Rais Khan and Alekjan -- at a packed courtroom.

The court acquitted five others -- Irshad Ahmed, a Pakistani national, Mohammad Jahangir, Abdul Kamal, Hanif and Dulal -- as charges against them were not proved.

The prime accused in the case, Mohammad Ibrahim died during the trial.

The convicts were awarded the capital punishment as the number of addicts is increasing and mostly the youths are victims of drugs, the judge said.

The convicts said they were victimised and the real drug peddlers who had brought them to Bangladesh with the heroin are unaccounted for.

Earlier, the prosecution and the defence completed their arguments and the court recorded statements of 18 prosecution witnesses.

Officials of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) led by then director general Modabbir Hossain Chowdhury arrested Ibrahim, Rais and Alekjan with the heroin from the city's Hotel Rajmoni Isha Khan on September 20, 1999.

A case was filed against them the same day. The investigation officer pressed charges against them along with the acquitted ones on November 24, 2000 and the court framed charges against them on August 31 last year.

Alekjan obtained bail on July 5 last year, but Judge Mohammad Matiur Rahman of the Court of Metropolitan Sessions Judge cancelled it after two days.

Earlier, another court jailed three Pakistani women for life for possessing 14kg heroin, the second largest haul, in August 2003.