A Jashore court has sentenced three people to death, two others to life term imprisonment in a case filed over recovery of 72 kilograms of gold from Sharsha upazila of Jashore along the Indian border five years ago.
Jashore Additional District and Sessions Court-2 Judge Md Tajul Islam passed the verdict on Thursday.
The death-row convicts are -- Mohiuddin Tarafdar, Zahidul Islam and Mujibur Rahman, residents of the Sharsha upazila, who were also fined Tk 10,000 each in the case.
The lifers are ---Masud Rana and Nur Jalal Mondal, residents of India’s West Bengal. The court fined them Tk 50,000 each, in default of which they will have to serve six more months in jail.
The court also sentenced four people 20 years of jail in the case and fined them Tk 50,000 each. The convicts are -- Imran Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Kabir Hossain, and Shafiqul Mondal of Sharsha upazila of the district.
Among the convicts, local Zahidul, Indian nationals Masud Rana and Nur Jalal are now on the run.
According to the case statement, on August 9, 2018, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) conducted a drive in Narikelbaria area under the Sharsha upazila and challenged some people who were crossing the border.
All the smugglers except Mohiuddin managed to flee and left two bags there.
Later, the BGB personnel recovered 624 gold bars, weighing around 72kg, from the detainee. A case was filed later in this connection.
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