Ex-home secy also points finger at Babar

Chittagong, May 24 (bdnews24.com) – Former Home Secretary Omar Faruk has said the probe committee could not investigate involvement of the National Security Intelligence (NSI) personnel in the 10-truck arms haul due to obstruction from then State Minister for Home Lutfuzzaman Babar. Faruk, also the former head of a five-member investigation panel for the arms haul investigation, said this in a Chittagong court in presence of Babar in connection with the much-talked-about arms haul case. The day's proceedings started with Faruk's deposition at the court of Chittagong Metropolitan Session Judge and the judge of Special Tribunal-1, S M Mujibur Rahman. The court fixed June 12 for the next hearing. Faruk told the court that the investigation committee members visited the places of occurrence at the Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd (CUFL) jetty terminal, Parki Bazaar and its surrounding areas on Apr 6, 2004, a day after the seizure. They also talked to the CUFL authorities, members of the law enforcement agencies and others concerned. "At that time, we had understood and got hint about the involvement of some NSI officials [in the arms haul]. But we could not know the details due to lack of time," he said. He went on, "When I informed him (Babar) of the involvement of NSI in the arms cache after completing the investigation, he asked me to ignore their hand in the probe report. The involvement of the NSI officials could not be included in the investigation report due to his obstruction and prohibition." On Wednesday, former commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) S M Sabbir Ali had said Babar had asked him not to speak out about the involvement of the NSI officials in the 10-truck arms haul. The background On Nov 15, the court had framed formal charges against 11 accused, all named in the supplementary chargesheet, in connection with the biggest-ever arms seizure in Bangladesh to date. Police had seized 10 trucks of arms and ammunition from the CUFL jetty in the port city on April 2, 2004. Around 1,500 wooden boxes containing submachine guns, AK-47 assault rifles, submachine carbines, Chinese pistols, rocket shells and launchers, hand grenades and bullets were seized. The cache was believed to be meant for Indian separatist outfit United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). Two cases were filed the next day with Karnaphuli police – one under the Special Powers Act and the other under the Arms Act. In 2004, investigators submitted the first chargesheet against 45 persons in the smuggling case, and 43 people in the arms case. Four persons, accused in both cases, have since died. Fifty-two accused were charged in the case filed for smuggling firearms and 50 in the arms case in the supplementary chargesheet submitted on June 26 this year. Two accused – ULFA leader Paresh Barua and former additional secretary of industries Nurul Amin – are yet to be arrested. bdnews24.com/mc/mi/skb/ssr/nir/2345h