Bangladesh reduces ULFA leader's death sentence in weapons smuggling case

NEW DELHI: The Bangladesh high court on Wednesday reduced the death sentence of ULFA leader Paresh Baruah to life imprisonment in a 2004 case involving the attempted smuggling of weapons to the separatist United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

The court also acquitted a former junior minister and five others. Baruah, reportedly residing in China, had been sentenced to death in absentia in 2014. His name appears on India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) "most wanted" list.

In 2011, ULFA split into two factions. The pro-talk group, led by Arabinda Rajkhowa, chose to return to Assam from "abroad" and engage in peace negotiations. In contrast, the other faction, ULFA (Independent), led by commander Paresh Baruah, rejected the idea of negotiations.

The case dates back to April 1, 2004, when authorities in Chattogram (then called Chittagong) seized ten truckloads of weapons from the premises of the Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL) jetty. The consignment was reportedly intended to be transported through Bangladesh to ULFA hideouts across the border in India.

The seized weapons included over 27,000 grenades, 150 rocket launchers, 1,100 submachine guns, 11.41 million bullets, and over 11 lakh rounds of ammunition.

The high court bench of Justice Mostafa Zaman Islam and Justice Nasrin Akhtar commuted Baruah's death sentence to life imprisonment. The bench also acquitted Bangladesh's former state minister for home affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar and six others, who had earlier received capital punishment.

The acquitted individuals include former DGFI (a defence intelligence agency of Bangladesh) director-general retired major general Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, former managing director of Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL) Mohsin Talukder, its general manager Enamul Hoque, former industries ministry additional secretary Nurul Amin, and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Motiur Rahman Nizami.

The weapons were reportedly intended for ULFA and were being moved through a jetty managed by CUFL, a state-run fertilizer plant. Among those previously sentenced to death was Abdur Rahim, a former DGFI director and retired brigadier general, who passed away in prison before his appeal could be heard. Nizami, also a former minister, was executed several years ago for crimes against humanity committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War.

Babar’s lawyer, Shishir Manir, argued that Babar had been falsely implicated in the case for political reasons, and the prosecution failed to present credible evidence or reliable witnesses. Babar was also sentenced in a separate case involving a 2004 grenade attack targeting Sheikh Hasina, who was then the opposition leader. However, a high court bench acquitted him in that case earlier this month.

The arms haul case remained dormant for years during the BNP-led government, where Jamaat-e-Islami was a coalition partner. Reports suggested that police officers involved in the seizure faced harassment, and efforts were made to suppress the investigation. The military-backed interim government in 2008 ordered a re-investigation amid these allegations. The extended probe revealed that officials from the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and the National Security Intelligence (NSI) oversaw the arms shipment. Chinese firm NORINCO was identified as the manufacturer of the weapons, though investigators could not trace the ship that transported the consignment to Bangladesh.

In 2014, a special tribunal in Chattogram convicted 14 people, including Baruah, Babar, and Nizami, sentencing them to death. The court ruled that the consignment was part of an elaborate plan to arm ULFA militants.