Yaba trader jailed businessman Amin Huda and his partner Ahsanul Haque Hasan for 79 years,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced 79 years' rigorous imprisonment to businessman Amin Huda and his partner Ahsanul Haque Hasan in connection with the biggest haul of Yaba tablets in October, 2007.

It is the highest ever sentence given by a court for the seizure of Yaba tablets.

The duo has been sentenced to 79 years' rigorous imprisonment on different charges. Since the punishment will run concurrently, they will have to suffer a total of 14 years, the court said.

Judge Mohammad Motahar Hossain of the Speedy Trial Tribunal also fined Tk 7.55 crore to each of them. In default of which, they will have to serve six more years in jail.

Amin, nephew of businessman Aziz Mohammad Bhai, and Ahsanul were present in the dock when the judge pronounced the verdict.

The court sentenced them in two cases, filed with Gulshan Police Station under the Narcotics Control Act, on charges of possessing a huge quantity of Yaba tablets and other drugs at their residences.

Earlier, the prosecution and the defence completed their arguments, and the court recorded statements of 30 prosecution witnesses including complainant and investigation officer of the cases.

On October 25, 2007, Rapid Action Battalion members seized 130,000 Yaba tablets and 5,000 Yaba alternative drugs from the possession of Amin and Ahsanul at their Gulshan office in the capital.

They also seized 818 SIM cards, one sex stimulating tablet, 139 bottles of foreign liquor, three pieces of IPS, one local area network switch, 12 quantum, 15 cellphones, a pair of handcuffs, six computer CPUs, 1,900 US dollar, 100 Hong Kong dollar, three Saudi riyal, 450 euro, 2,500 Thai baht, 125 Indian rupee, Tk 46,01,422, one laptop, 159 tellular sets, one gear switch, two channel boxes, three PC monitors, 2.5 litre orthophosphoric acid, one bottle dietheylethol and 10 tolas of gold.

VoIP equipment worth over Tk 5 crore was also seized from their office.

Following the seizure, Rab filed four cases against them.

The accused then filed separate writ petitions with the High Court (HC) challenging the legality of the proceedings of the cases.

After the hearing, the HC quashed one of the four cases that had been filed for running illegal VoIP business. It also stayed proceedings of another case filed for possessing foreign and local currencies.

The HC, however, continued the proceedings of two other cases filed for possessing Yaba tablets and other drugs.

Special Public Prosecutor SM Rafiqul Islam appeared for the state while Mahboob Ahmad defended the accused during yesterday's court proceedings.