10-Truck Arms Haul
I was forced to give false deposition
Ex-police sergeant tells court
A prosecution witness of the sensational 10-truck arms haul cases, Helal Uddin Bhuiyan, told a Chittagong court yesterday that he was forced to give a false deposition to a court hearing the case in 2006.
The former sergeant of a Chittagong police outpost, however, failed to recall the name of the person who had forced him to give the false deposition.
Helal was being cross-examined by the defence before Judge SM Mojibur Rahman of Chittagong Metropolitan Special Tribunal-1.
When Advocate Mahmudur Rahman, lawyer of Hafizur Rahman, one of the 11 accused of the cases, asked Helal whether he took oath on May 22 and May 23 before the deposition, Helal replied that he had done so.
Advocate Mahmudur said Helal had not mentioned Hafizur's name during the deposition. Helal said he could not remember.
Earlier, Advocate Mohammad Ahasan, lawyer of an accused, Maj (retd) Liakat, and Advocate Abdus Sobhan Tarafder, lawyer of former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, another accused, cross-examined the witness.
The court adjourned the proceedings till today.
Police on April 2, 2004, seized around 1,500 wooden boxes containing submachine guns, submachine carbines, Chinese pistols, rocket shells and launchers, hand grenades and bullets from Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Limited jetty.
The next day, two cases were filed with Karnaphuli Police Station under the Special Powers Act and the Arms Act.
The charges were framed on November 15, 2011 against the 11 accused, including Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami and Lutfozzaman, both of whom are now detained in the case.
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