Around 300 labourers, who used to earn their livelihood from the Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd jetty, are passing their days in immense hardship as work for them became scarce following the recovery of a huge cache of arms and ammunitions from the dock some ten years ago.
Locals said work for loading and unloading goods was abundant when the jetty used to be a safe haven for smugglers, but things changed after authorities beefed up security following the arms recovery. After the incident, local boats have been barred to dock at the jetty to avert such incidents in future.
On April 2, 2004, police seized a huge cache of sophisticated military arms and ammunitions while being loaded onto trucks from two fishing trawlers at the CUFL jetty. Two cases were filed in connection to the sensational arms recovery. The cases are commonly termed as the 10-truck arms haul cases.
In the cases, 17 local residents, mostly porters and labourers, were shown accused in the cases. However, 16 of them have been acquitted by the court in the verdict delivered on Thursday.
“Most of the residents used to earn well through the odd jobs that was offered by the jetty. But everything changed drastically after jetty authorities encircled the compound with barbed wires and steel plates following the incident,” said Majibur Rahman, who was recently acquitted by the court in the cases.
Most of these residents earned their livelihood by off-loading, transporting or selling smuggled goods, which came into the country through the jetty.
“The earning of the locals fell drastically after the jetty restricted itself following the arms recovery,” said Mariam Begum, a local union parishad member, adding that almost all residents of the area were once below the poverty line, but many of them managed to build semi-pucca houses by earning through activities and businesses centring the jetty.
Meanwhile, Abu Jamal Sarkar, managing director of CUFL, said the jetty was open for the local boats before the arms recovery; however, they had encircled it with barbed wire and steel plates after the incident.