Samrat sentenced to life in prison in arms case

Ismail Hossain Chowdhury Samrat, the former president of the Jubo League's Dhaka Metropolitan South unit, has been sentenced to life in prison for the illegal possession of a foreign pistol and ammunition for it.

Dhaka Special Tribunal Judge Md Ibrahim Mia delivered the verdict in the case under the Arms Act on Tuesday. Shahadat Ali, the bench assistant for the court, said that the verdict was delivered after recording Samrat as absconding.

The life in prison sentence is the first verdict delivered among several cases pending against the former Jubo League leader.

Samrat went into hiding after an illegal casino operation was exposed during a RAB raid in Dhaka's Motijheel on Sept 18, 2019. On Oct 7 that year, RAB arrested Samrat and his associate Enamul Haque Arman from Cumilla's Chauddagram. That afternoon, a raid was conducted at Samrat's office at Bhuiyan Trade Center in Kakrail.

After a five-hour raid, RAB announced that it had found a foreign pistol with bullets, 1,160 yaba pills, 19 bottles of foreign liquor, two kangaroo skins and an electrical device for it said was intended for "torture".

A mobile court immediately sentenced Samrat to six months in prison under the Wildlife (Conservation) Act for the kangaroo skins. On the same day, RAB-1's DAD Abdul Khalek filed two cases under the Arms Act and the Narcotics Act at Ramna Police Station.

After an investigation, RAB-1 Sub-Inspector Shekhar Chandra Mallick

Samrat's trial began on Jan 16 with the framing of charges in the arms case. His bail was scrapped that day and an arrest warrant was issued. He has been tried as a fugitive as he could not be found after the warrant was issued.

During the trial, the tribunal recorded the testimonies of 10 out of a total of 14 witnesses. After the arguments from the prosecution and defence concluded on Oct 7, the verdict date was set for Tuesday.

Samrat was also charged in the illegal wealth acquisition case on Jul 17. In addition, the court scrapped his bail and issued an arrest warrant in another case over the laundering of Tk 1.95 billion.