A Dhaka court today sentenced a man to life imprisonment and four others to three years of jail in the country's first yaba case filed in 2002. Judge SM Ershadul Alam of the Environment Appeal Court (Special Sessions Court) of Dhaka handed down the verdict in presence of two accused in a packed courtroom, court sources said. The lifer is Shofiqul Islam Jewel.

The judge also fined Tk 10,000, defaulting which, he would have to serve an additional six-month jail term. The four other accused are Rafiqul Islam, Shamsul Islam, Somnath Saha, and Enran Haque, who were sentenced three years jail term. They were also fined Tk 2,000 each, in default of which, they would have to serve another three-month jail.

Of the convicts, Shamsul, Somnath, and Enran are on the run. The court issued arrest warrants against the absconding convicts. On December 18 of 2002, the officials of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) recovered the first yaba cache at Niketan in Gulshan and arrested the alleged drug dealer Jewel.

The following day, DNC inspector Enamul Haque filed a case with Gulshan Police Station under the Narcotics Control Act in this regard. On January 14 of 2003, DNC Inspector Helal Udddin Bhuiyan submitted a charge sheet in the case. The court framed charges against five accused in the case on April 5, 2010.

Source: Daily Star