SHC dismisses appeal of two convicts in drug smuggling case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday dismissed the appeal of two convicts against their life imprisonment sentence in a drugs smuggling case. Shah Nawaz and Mohammad Saeed were sentenced to life imprisonment by the control of narcotics substance court for possessing charas.

According to the prosecution, the Anti-Narcotics Force had arrested the appellants when they were travelling in a private vehicle and seized 79 kilogrammes of charas concealed in the vehicle. The appellants' counsel submitted that narcotics substance were foisted on the appellants and the contraband were not in their possession. The counsel submitted that there were material contradictions in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses which rendered the evidence unreliable. They submitted that there was no independent witness with regard to the arrest of the appellants and the recovery of charas, which was in violation of the criminal procedure law.

An ANF special prosecutor supported the the impugned judgment and submitted that the appellants were arrested in a private vehicle in which narcotic substance was hidden inside coffee and chocolate. He requested the high court to dismiss the appeals.

A division bench of the SHC comprising Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha and Justice Arshad Hussain Khan after hearing the arguments of the counsel observed that the appellants were arrested red-handed with the narcotics in the vehicle and the evidence fully corroborated each other in all material aspects.

The bench observed that the chemical report proved to be positive and all protocols for examining of the evidence were followed. The high court observed that the prosecution had proved its case against the appellants and upheld the life imprisonment sentence awarded to them.