Four of the convicts on death row in one of the two Chittagong arms haul cases, including ex-minister Motiur Rahman Nizami and former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar, were shifted to Dhaka and Kashimpur jails from Chittagong yesterday as they are also accused in cases being heard in the capital's courts.

The remaining two are former National Security Intelligence (NSI) director general Brig Gen (retd) Abdur Rahim and former Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) director Maj Gen (retd) Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury. Nizami reached Kashimpur High Security Central Jail and Babar Kashimpur Central Jail-1 around 7:00pm and Rezzakul and Rahim reached Dhaka Central Jail around 6:00pm, said the jails' officials.

They will be kept in condemned cells, added the officials.

A prison van carrying the four and escorted by two police vans had left Chittagong Central Jail around 10:45am, the senior jail super, Sagir Mia, told The Daily Star.

Ex-state minister for home Babar, Rahim and Rezzakul are accused in the August 21 grenade attack case, the hearing on which is due on February 4.

The war crimes case against Nizami, also ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami and a former industries minster, is awaiting verdict at the International Crimes Tribunal-1.

A Chittagong court on Thursday handed down the death penalty to 14 people for smuggling 10 truckloads of arms into the port city during the last BNP-led government's tenure in 2004.

Apart from the four, two of the convicts are on the run while the remaining eight have been kept inside condemned cells of Chittagong Central Jail since the verdict was passed.