Two muggers get 16 years in jail for encounter with police

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has sentenced two muggers to a collective 16 years in prison in cases related to an encounter with police and possession of illicit arms.

Bilal Khan and Muhammad Waqas were found guilty of firing shots at the Boat Basin police with the intent to kill in January of this year. The ATC-III judge issued the verdict after recording evidence and considering final arguments from both defense and prosecution sides. He ruled that the prosecution successfully established the charges against the accused beyond any shadow of a doubt, resulting in a 16-year prison sentence.

The convicts were ordered to pay a fine of Rs100,000 or face an additional 11-month imprisonment in case of default. The judge remanded the convicts back to prison to serve out their sentences concurrently. Additionally, he extended the benefit of Section 382-B to the convicts, allowing the time spent behind bars since their arrest to be deducted from their prison term.

As per the prosecution, the two accused were arrested in an injured state after an encounter with the Boat Basin police, and unlicensed pistols were seized from their possession. The two are alleged to have shot dead Pakistan Navy employee Muhammad Shan over resistance on January 17.

Three separate cases were filed against them at the Boat Basin police station under sections 186, 324, 353, and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 23(I)A of the Sindh Arms Act, read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, dealing with punishment for acts of terrorism.