A fugitive police officer who was sentenced to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment in a high-profile drug case in Feni has surrendered in court.

Md. Billal Hossain Prakash Belal (40), son of Abdul Matin of Cumilla and former Sub-Inspector (SI) of Cox's Bazar Police Intelligence Branch, surrendered in court on Tuesday morning and was sent to Feni prison after a hearing.

On March 6, he and 12 other defendants, including 5 policemen, a lawyer, and a lawyer's assistant, were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment.

In the verdict, Belal was sentenced to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of TK 1 lakh, with 6 months of unpaid imprisonment in default of payment.

Billal had been absconding without appearing in court when the verdict was pronounced but appeared in court today and pleaded not guilty, denying involvement in the incident and claiming to have confessed under duress.

He is now seeking bail through a senior lawyer.

The verdict also sentenced 5 other defendants to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment, 6 defendants to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment, and 1 defendant to 5 years of rigorous imprisonment, along with fines and additional imprisonment in default of payment.

Assistant Deputy Inspector (ASI) of Dhaka SB Police, Mahfuzur Rahman, Cox's Bazar SB Deputy Inspector SI Md. Billal Hossain, SI Ashikur Rahman of Sitakund Highway Police in Chittagong, Cox's Bazar resident Saleh Ahmed, and Faridul Alam and Zafar Company have been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Lawyer Zakir Hossain, legal assistant Abdul Motaleb Muhuri, police constables Shaheen and Kashem Ali,  residents of Cox's Bazar Tofazzal Hossain and Gias Uddin have each been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Javed Ali, the private car driver of Dhaka SB’s sub-inspector Mahfuzur Rahman who was also arrested in the same case, has been sentenced to 5 years in prison.
Read more: Rape at police station: fugitive police inspector sent to jail on surrender 

Eight of the 13 convicts were present in court when the verdict was delivered.

According to court sources, on June 20, 2015, RAB members arrested police ASI Mahfuzur Rahman and his private car driver Javed Ali along with 680,000 pieces of yaba in a private car in Lalpol area of Feni Sadar upazila on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.

Monirul Islam filed a case against 4 people at Feni Model Police Station as the plaintiff.

After investigating the case, the then CID Comilla Special Superintendent of Police, Jalal Uddin Ahmed submitted the chargesheet to the court on May 25, 2019, accusing 14 people.

One defendant named Rubel Sarkar died during the course of the case.