ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for two former members of the Balochistan Assembly and three other accused in a drug trafficking case.

A three-member bench comprising Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice M. Javed Buttar and Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani issued the warrants after accepting an appeal of the Anti-Narcotics Force against former MPAs Sakhi Dost Jan and Ali Muhammad Notazai.

The court directed the Balochistan IGP to execute warrants and report compliance to the district and sessions judge, Chagai. Both former MPAs were convicted and sentenced by the trial court to 14 years' imprisonment for abetting trafficking of 65,000 kilograms of Charas. However, the Balochistan High Court declared that the sentence had already been served.

The ANF challenged the decision. Dr Babar Awan, counsel for the ANF, maintained that since the convicts had not been given the benefit of section 382(b) of the CrPC by the trial court, therefore the high court could not have declared their sentence to have been served. The ANF sought an enhancement in the sentence period.