What is 10-truck arms haul case, Bangladesh’s largest arms smuggling incident

In the dead of the night on 1 April, 2004, the police, alongside members of the Coast Guard, were conducting an operation based on a tip-off about suspicious activity.

They came across ten trucks which were unloading cargo at a jetty of the Chittagong Urea Fertilizer on the Karnaphuli river.

Crates were going from fishing trawlers onto trucks. 

Upon investigation, they unarmed an enormous cache of arms and ammunition.

As law enforcement officers moved in, they found a staggering haul that included 4,930 sophisticated firearms, 27,020 grenades, 840 rocket launchers, 300 rockets, 2,000 grenade-launching tubes, and over 1.1 million rounds of ammunition, according to various media reports at the time.

The sheer scale of the operation immediately raised alarms. 

The arms cache far exceeded the needs of local criminal groups, pointing instead to a well-coordinated international smuggling network.

By the next morning, headlines across the country ran reports on the seizure, with the case going to be dubbed the "10-truck arms haul case". 

It would become the largest arms smuggling attempt in Bangladesh's history and a focal point of national and regional security concerns.

Fingers pointed

In the investigations that followed, it was found that the weapons were intended for the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), a separatist militant group operating in India's northeastern state of Assam. 

ULFA had long been seeking independence from Assam at the time and had been involved in various insurgent activities.

Speaking on the matter 10 years later, Anup Chetia, a co-founder and general secretary of the Indian separatist group, said the arms seized did not belong to them.

But his admission came late.

India had let its displeasure be known.

The arms haul also underscored the porous nature of borders in the region and highlighted Bangladesh's role as a potential transit hub for illicit arms destined for insurgencies in neighboring countries. 

Indian authorities closely monitored the case, as it directly implicated ULFA.

Back in Bangladesh, big heads started to roll.

Legal tangles

Since 2007, prosecution has been emphasised for the arms smuggling and illegal arms charges in this smuggling case. 

Those charged in this case have included the following politicians and military officers who had held senior positions in the BNP-led government, which resigned at its end of term in late October 2006.

The investigation implicated several high-ranking officials and political figures. 

Among those charged was Lutfozzaman Babar, who served as the State Minister for Home Affairs at the time. 

It was alleged that such a massive operation could not have taken place without the knowledge or complicity of influential figures in the government and security forces.

All in all, a total of 50 individuals were charged, including Matiur Rahman Nizami, then industries minister and leader of Jamaat-e-Islami and Paresh Barua, military wing chief of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

In 2014, a special tribunal in Chattogram during the Hasina-led government sentenced Babar and 13 others to death for their roles in facilitating the smuggling operation. 

The verdict was hailed as a landmark in Bangladesh's judicial history.

An acquittal

The case took a dramatic turn today, when the High Court acquitted Babar and five others of all charges related to the arms haul. 

Nearly two decades after the interception, the 10-truck arms haul case remains a significant chapter in South Asia's fight against transnational crime and militancy.