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Relieved, finally

14 accused from same village acquitted in arms haul case after years of harassment

Abul Kalam Azad, Tuhin Shubhra ADHIKARY and DWAIPAYAN BARUA, from Ctg
Though the court has cleared them of charges, they are not getting back the time and money wasted over the last ten years. There is no compensation for their torments either.
After the 10-truck arms haul in 2004, fifteen persons, including a female Union Parishad member, were charge-sheeted though none of them were named in the first information report.
Many males of the village, some one kilometre away from the spot of the massive seizure, had left homes fearing arrest and harassment.
After spending five to six months in jail, fourteen of them were released on bail. But this was just the beginning of a long ordeal -meeting lawyers and attending the court regularly, not to mention the financial stress.
The legal wrangles made a big dent in family peace and education of their kids.
So, when a Chittagong court acquitted them in two cases relating to the biggest arms seizure in the country's history, the
villagers got an occasion for a celebration. They hugged each other and distributed sweetmeats in the village.
However, the court found one villager, Deen Mohammad, guilty in both the cases and sentenced him to death. His younger brother Jasim Uddin was one of the accused to get acquitted.
"The village had been cursed over the last 10 years. But the almighty Allah has had mercy on us," Mariam Begum, who has been a member of local Union Parishad for the last 20 years, told The Daily Star yesterday. She was implicated in both the cases.
An arms case and another for smuggling were lodged with Karnaphuli Police Station a day after the arms haul at Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd (CUFL) jetty in the early hours of April 2,2004.
CID ASP Kabir Uddin, the second investigation officer, submitted the charge sheet in the arms case, naming 39 persons.
But he dropped 11 bigwigs, including two former ministers and five ex-officials of intelligence agencies. Even five people, arrested at the CUFL jetty for involvement in the arms smuggling, were released later on directives from the then ex-state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, the court said.
Villagers alleged 14 innocents, mostly small contractors of the jetty, were named in the charge sheet only to divert the case.
According to the first charge sheet, the accused from this village supplied labourers for offloading the arms and ammunition.
However, after a decade of trial, the Chittagong Metropolitan Special Tribunal-1 on Thursday acquitted 38 people and handed down death penalty to 14 others, including the 11 bigwigs.
The 14 villagers whom the court acquitted are Sanwar Hossain Chowdhury, Dilder Hossain Chowdhury, Mariam Begaum, Jasim Uddin, Abdul Aziz, Mohammad Akhter, Mohammad Jahangir, Nurul Afsar, Arju Mia, Ejhar Mia, Mojibur Rahman Bhulu, Sheikh Mohammad, Fazal Ahmad Chowdhury and Akbar Ali.
Abdul Aziz and his two brothers - Akhter
and Jahangir - had to spend months in jail and appear before a Chittagong court regularly.
“I was not involved in this incident. I was not even at my village home at the time. But police arrested me when I went to visit my home three months after the incident,” Aziz told The Daily Star.
His sister Rasheda Begum also claimed all of her brothers were innocent. "They knew nothing."
Faruq Chowdhury, son of Fazal Ahmad Chowdhury, said, "We, five brothers and sisters, could have had better education in Chittagong city. But we were deprived of it after my father was falsely implicated."
While the villagers, especially families of the acquitted persons, expressed satisfaction over the verdict, situation was different at the house of Deen Mohammad.
"My elder brother [Deen] is innocent. Ask the villagers, they will give him a clean chit,” Diljahan Begum, sister of Deen, said as tears rolled down her face.
"Write something in your newspaper, save my brother. Give us a chance to live."