2 traffickers get 30 yrs

A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced two members of an international drug smuggling syndicate to 30 years' rigorous imprisonment (RI) each for possessing 23.5kg heroin in November last year.
Judge AHM Mustaque Ahmed of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-2 handed down the sentence in presence of the convicts Ariful Islam Bhuiyan of Shantinagar and Mahmud Ali of Agamosi Lane of Kotwali in the capital.
The court fined them Tk two lakh each, in default of which they will have to suffer another five years' RI in jail.
In his judgement, the judge said that as the charges brought against the two drug peddlers were proved beyond any doubt the punishments were meted out to the two.
This is the second largest heroin haul in Bangladesh.
Earlier, the prosecution and the defence had completed their arguments and the court recorded statements of 16 prosecution witnesses.
On November 12 last year, customs officials and members of the task force working at Zia International Airport (ZIA) seized 23.5kg heroin from the luggage of two China-bound Bangladeshi citizens.
The heroin wrapped in 16 carbon-paper packs was hidden under false bottoms of their luggage and on top of which there were lemons, spices, packs of tea and lentils to dispel even the slightest shadow of doubt.
After their arrest, they identified themselves as luggage traders to customs officials and told them they were going to Kunming via Beijing on China Eastern Airlines flight MU-2035 with business visas.
Customs Inspector Sayedul Islam filed a case under the Narcotics Control Act with the Airport Police Station against the two for committing the offences the same day. The investigation officer pressed charges against them on December 12 the same year.
This was the largest ever heroin haul since the sensational 24kg seizure at Hotel Rajmoni Isha Khan on September 20, 1999 when three Pakistani nationals--Ibrahim, Rais Khan and Alekjan--were arrested with the heroin.
Rais Khan and Alekjan were awarded death sentences on July 7, 2005 while Ibrahim died in jail earlier.