Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has confirmed that its earlier charge sheets in the arms haul case were submitted at the behest of then State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar to misdirect probe.  Now CID has obtained important information from the prime accused Hafiz about Babar’s role in the episode. Moreover, the then Home Secretary Omar Faruq also gave information about Babar’s involvement in the Chittagong arms haul, the daily reported on Feb 6.

In his 43- page written testimony Hafiz disclosed that the BNP Senior Joint Secretary General and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’ son Tareque Rahman and ULFA leader Paresh Barua had a long meeting at Hawa Bhavan in Dhaka before arms were downloaded at Chittagong port, the Jugantar reported.

Lutfozzaman Babar and former DG, National Security Intelligence, Maj Gen Rezzaqul Hyder Chowdhury were brought face- to- face at CID Headquarters in Dhaka. During interrogation both admitted that they were aware of 10 truck loads of arms that were seized in 2004 in Chittagong port. They revealed that the former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s son Tareque Rahman ‘remote’ controlled the Aug 21, 2004 grenade attack on Awami League (AL) rally in Dhaka,  the arms smuggled into  Chittagong port in 2004 and many bomb blasts across the country targeted at the opposition. ‘Tareque operated from Hawa Bhavan’.

Babar confessed that under Tareque Rahman’s instructions the course of investigations in the Chittagong arms case was diverted. ‘Several top ranking and leaders of our (BNP/JEI alliance) government were involved. So, I asked the police to hide the truth. I had to obey Tarique’s orders. Otherwise, I would have lost my ministership’, the former minister told the CID, according to local media reports.