PESHAWAR, May 5: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday set aside the conviction of two former government employees in a case of drug trafficking.

The bench comprising Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Dost Mohammad Khan accepted the appeals of the appellants, former schoolteacher Abdul Hamid and former telephone and telegraph department employee Fazal Mali.

The appellants were convicted on Sept 4, 2003, by special judge, control of narcotics, Abdur Rehman Khan, and sentenced to the period they had spent in prison - about five years.

They were arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Force, which claimed that it had received a tip-off about smuggling of narcotics to Punjab. ANF staff stopped a passenger van near Khairabad and seized 100kg of heroin from it. The driver, Qaiser Shah, claimed that the contraband belonged to the appellants belonging to Jamrud.

The driver was released on bail and he is absconding. Advocate Noor Alam Khan appeared for the appellants and contended that under the law confessional statement of an accused should be first used against himself during the trial and then against others.

He said the statement of Qaiser Shah could not be applied to the appellants as hehad been absconding and he did not face the trial.