PESHAWAR, July 23: A person was found guilty of drug trafficking and was sentenced to death by the court of anti-narcotics special court of here on Tuesday.

The court presided over by additional district and sessions judge, Shehber Khan, pronounced that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused, Baghecha Gul, resident of Khyber Agency.

The accused was also found guilty of possessing a Klashnikov and two light intensity bombs and on that count he was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. This is the first death penalty awarded in a narcotics case by a court in Peshawar since the enactment of the Control of Narcotics Substance Act, 1997, when death penalty was introduced for drug trafficking.

The accused was arrested on July 20, 1999, by the local police after exchange of fire in which ASI Riazul Islam was injured.

He was driving a vehicle bearing registration No LOR 3901. The police claimed of recovering 558kg of charas, 2kg of heroin, a Kalashnikov and two bombs from the said vehicle.

The  accused claimed that he was innocent and  falsely implicated in the case. He stated that the real accused escaped from the scene and he was arrested by the police, whereas the contraband and weapons were not recovered from his vehicle.

Public prosecutor, Saleem Khan, appeared for the state and contended that the accused was arrested on the spot and the contraband was recovered from the vehicle, which he was driving.