Bangladesh issues arrest warrant against India's top fugitive

Bangladesh issues arrest warrant against India's top fugitive

2011-06-30 07:04:21 GMT+7 (ICT)

DHAKA (BNO NEWS) -- A Bangladeshi court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant against one of India's most important fugitives for his involvement in an arms smuggling case, the Hindu newspaper reported.

The arrest warrant was issued against Paresh Barua, the military chief of the separatist United Liberation Front of Asom, for participating in the smuggling of 10 truckloads of arms in the city of Chittagong on April 2, 2004. The arms were smuggled allegedly in collaboration with some government higher-ups for the ULFA outfit.

Investigators have in total charged 52 people, including several retired Bangladeshi officials. The accused include the former Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, and former director general of National Security Intelligence Brig. Gen. Abdur Rahim. Motiur Rahman Nizami is also facing charges of war crimes as collaborator of the Pakistan Army in the country's liberation war in 1971.

The investigators claimed that the arms, produced at the Chinese factory Norinco, were to be transported to India for the Assamese separatist group. Police seized the arms trucks from a government-owned factory's jetty.

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