Lutfozzaman Babar, the former state minister for home affairs during the BNP-Jamaat alliance government, has been released from prison after serving 17 years.

He was freed from the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj on Thursday afternoon, according to Deputy Jailer Jannatul Ferdous.

"The former state minister for home affairs was released at around 1:45 pm as there are no remaining charges against him," Ferdous confirmed.

Babar was acquitted of his life imprisonment term in the widely discussed 10-truck arms smuggling case on Tuesday.

On Apr 1, 2004, a consignment of 10 trucks of weapons was seized from the CUFL Ghat in Chattogram. Two cases were filed at the Karnaphuli Police Station in the port city over the incident, alleging smuggling under the Arms Act and the Special Powers Act.

On Dec 18, Babar and six others were acquitted by the High Court in the Special Powers Act case. Paresh’s sentence was also reduced from death to lifetime imprisonment.

Six other convicts sentenced to death by a judge’s court have had their sentences reduced to 10 years in prison.

In the case filed under the Arms Act, all the accused in the case, including Babar, former industries minister and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami, and military commander of Indian separatist organisation ULFA leader Paresh Barua, were sentenced to life in prison.

The convicts filed separate appeals in the High Court in 2014 against their sentences from prison.

Babar was acquitted in the Arms Act case on Tuesday, clearing the way for Babar's release from prison.