A Dhaka court on Thursday ordered to return the passports of BD Foods Limited Chairman Badruddoza Chowdhury Momen for going abroad for treatment that were earlier seized in connection with trafficking of 22.5kg heroin to the UK in December 2004.
Judge ANM Bashir Ullah of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court passed the order following a criminal revision filed by Momen's lawyers against the rejection order of the lower court issued on November 19 last year.
In his order, the judge mentioned that the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) of Dhaka would hand over the seized passports in the custody of the accused subject to furnish a bond of Tk 1 lakh by his (accused) son Mohammad Badrul Haider Chowdhury along with other liabilities to take in his shoulder in case of the accused not surrendering the passports for a period of four months from the day of delivery.
The accused will surrender the passports to the CMM's Court after four months from the day of delivery. Moreover, the High Court (HC), while granting bail to the accused, did not impose any restriction on the accused to leave the country. So, the passports seized from Momen should be returned to the accused for treatment abroad, the court said.
Momen's lawyers filed a criminal revision with the Sessions Court on January 15 seeking passports as the accused would go abroad for his treatment.
Momen was arrested on May 14, 2006 after two other arrestees in their confessional statements before a magistrate named BD Foods Limited chairman as the mastermind behind the trafficking of 22.5kg of heroin to the UK. He was later taken on a seven-day remand for interrogation. But he was granted bail on August 10, 2006.
CONFESSION
Nazmul Haider Bhuiyan Bulbul, a former official of BD Foods Limited, and his cohort Mokhlesur Rahman Nayan, a cargo handler, in their confessional statements told a magistrate they had carried out the smuggling at the directive of the top authorities of the company.