2 arrestees placed on fresh 3-day remand

Two of the four persons arrested in the liquid cocaine haul case were allowed to be taken on a fresh 3-day remand by a Chittagong court yesterday.

Mostafa Kamal and his nephew Atiqur Rahman were earlier quizzed for 10 days. Mostafa's cousin, Bakul Mia, had requested him to have the consignment containing the cocaine be sent to a third country from the Chittagong port.

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The consignment comprised 107 barrels with labels claiming the contents to be sunflower oil. One barrel tested positive for cocaine.

The barrels arrived on May 8 in a container shipped from Uruguay's Montevideo on being brought from Bolivia on a truck, the case's investigation officer, Md Kamruzzaman, told The Daily Star.

The court rejected a bail petition and sent to jail another arrestee, AK Azad, manager of the shipping agent, Cosco (Bangladesh) Shipping Lines Ltd.

The last arrestee, Golam Mostafa Sohel, finance manager of a sister concern of Khan Jahan Ali Ltd, the shipment's consignee, is on a second 5-day remand.

A 10-member Chittagong Metropolitan Police team is conducting the interrogations.

Sources in the Detective Branch of police said several persons from Bolivia, United Kingdom and India are involved in sending the consignment.

Moreover, the court is scheduled to hear today an appeal of the prosecution seeking to include sections of Special Powers Act 1974 in the case, filed under section 19 (1) (b) of the Narcotics Control Act and with Patenga Police Station.