Arms Case against Papia, her husband: Rab official testifies

Shafiqul Islam, deputy assistant general (DAD) of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a plaintiff in the arms case filed against expelled general secretary of Jubo Mohila League Narsingdi district unit Shamima Nur Papia and her husband Mofizur Rahman Sumon, testified before a court in the capital on Tuesday.

Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Emrul Kayesh recoded the statement of Rab DAD Shafiqul Islam and fixed Wednesday for the next hearing in the case.

With the Rab DAD, two witnesses, out of 12, have made their depositions before the court.Earlier, Saiful Alam, deputy inspector of RAB, testified before the court on Monday.

On August 23, a Dhaka court framed charges against Papia and her husband in the arms case.The court also rejected their petition to clear them from the charges.

On June 29 last, sub-inspector Md Arifuzzaman submitted the chargesheet in the case filed with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station against them to Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court.Twelve people were made witnesses in the case.

On February 23, RAB members raided two flats belonging to Papia and Sumon after arresting them at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on February 22.

The RAB men seized counterfeit notes, foreign currencies and around Tk 2.5 lakh. They also recovered around Tk 58 lakh raiding their two more flats at Indira Road in Dhaka and also a presidential suite at a five-star hotel in the capital.

Apart from the lavish flats in Dhaka, Papia and Sumon, a former Chhatra League leader, own two more flats and two plots, worth around Tk 2 crore, in Narsingdi and a number of luxurious cars.

Later, three cases were filed — two with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station under the Arms Act and the Special Powers Acts while another with Airport Police Station under the Special Powers Act-1974.

On August 4, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case against Papia and her husband for embezzlement of Tk 6.24 crore.

source: UNB