Papia, her husband indicted in narcotics case

A court in Dhaka on Tuesday framed charges against Shamima Nur Papia and her husband Mofizur Rahman Sumon in a case filed under the Narcotics Act with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station, reports BSS.

Dhaka’s additional 8th metropolitan sessions judge Amirul Islam also set 1 March for taking testimony in the case after framing charges against them.

The accused, however, claimed that they are innocent and demanded justice.

Earlier on 22 February 2020, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Papia and her husband, along with two of their accomplices, from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport with counterfeit banknotes foreign currencies and cash.

RAB later raided their two luxurious flats in capital’s Indira Road area and recovered a foreign-made pistol, two magazines, 20 bullets, five bottles of foreign liquor, Tk 5.8.41 million in cash, among other things.

Later, one case was filed with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station under Arms Act, one under Narcotics Act and another under Special Powers Act.

On 10 September, the investigating officer of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station filed a charge sheet against Papia and others in the drug case.

Judge KM Imrul Kayesh of the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court on 12 October sentenced Papia and her husband to 20 years in prison in a case filed under the Arms Act.

The court also awarded them seven years jail under another section of the Arms Act.

The judge mentioned in the order that the imprisonment under the two sections will concurrently continue.