PESHAWAR, Nov 22: The Peshawar High Court on Monday dismissed bail petition of an alleged influential smuggler Tahir Khan alias Malangae.

A single bench comprising the court's Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk observed that the accused-petitioner did not deserve to be released on bail.

Malangae and 11 of his accomplices were arrested on May 24 after a shoot-out with the Crimes Investigation Department (CID), which had resulted in killing of an alleged smuggler Nisar.

The accused are charged under section 7 of the Anti Terrorism Act, section 13 of the Arms Ordinance, section 3/4 of the Explosive Substance Act and section 148/149/324 and 353 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The bail petition of Malangae was earlier dismissed by the anti-terrorism court and the Peshawar High Court on merit. The accused-petitioner filed another petition for bail on fresh grounds.

He based report of the Nowshera district and sessions judge in which the court had recorded statements of three police officers. The petitioner claimed that the statements of those officers proved that he was innocent and falsely implicated in the case.

The sessions judge had recorded the statements while hearing an application filed by relatives of the deceased Nisar for registration of an FIR against the police. Advocate M. Sardar Khan appeared for the petitioner and argued that the Nowshera district and sessions judge had conducted inquiry under section 22-A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Advocate Malik Akhter appeared for the state and argued that the sessions judge has overstepped his jurisdiction by recording statements under section 22-A. He stated that a writ petition was filed by the police against the inquiry of the sessions judge following which the high court had stayed those proceedings.

The CID has claimed that Malangae was an Afghan refugee and had been active in smuggling for the past 12 years. The accused had also got released his trucks from the police lines in Lahore and customs checkpoint at Kund in Nowshera by force sometime back.

There were also allegations against Malangae that he used to pay millions of rupees to members of law enforcement agencies in the NWFP and Punjab to get his smuggled goods cleared. The National Accountability Bureau has also been probing the involvement of police and customs officials in the smuggling business of the accused.