Former RAB intelligence chief Ziaul Ahsan had kept additional weapons and ammunition at RAB-8 that were not entered in the force’s official arms register, a former RAB officer told the International Crimes Tribunal-1 during cross-examination on Thursday.
Major (retd) Sabbir Rahman Osmani, a former deputy commander of RAB-8, said the weapons and ammunition had been brought from the seized exhibits in the 10-truck arms haul case.
Arrested Ziaul Ahsan was present in the dock during the proceedings.
‘Ziaul sir had kept some additional arms and ammunition at our office, for which no records were maintained,’ Sabbir said during cross-examination by Ziaul Ahsan’s lawyer Sahidur Rahman in a crime against humanity case over enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings at Barguna rivers during the ousted Awami League regime.
Sabbir said RAB-8 maintained registers showing when weapons and ammunition were taken out of the armoury and when they were returned.
‘If any ammunition was used during an RAB-8 operation, it was entered in the register,’ he said.
But, he added, the additional arms and ammunition kept by Ziaul were not accounted for in those registers.
The witness said he did not know exactly what weapons were among the arms seized in the 10-truck arms haul, but confirmed that the additional arms kept at the RAB-8 office had come from the seized exhibits in that case.
The witness had earlier described alleged ‘Golf’ operations conducted by RAB-8 in the Barishal region and implicated Ziaul in the operations.
