05 March 2005	Saturday	23 Muharram 1426

PESHAWAR, March 4: An anti-terrorism court here on Friday convicted Tahir Khan alias Malangae and his 11 companions and sentenced them to five years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 200,000 each in a case of shootout with the police last year.

The accused were arrested on March 24, 2004, after a shootout between smugglers and personnel of Crimes Investigation Department (CID) which had resulted in killing of one of the smugglers named Nisar Khan.

The accused were sentenced to three years imprisonment each with fine of Rs 100,000 under section 324 (attempted murder) and section 353 (use of force to deter public servant from discharge of duty) of Pakistan Penal Code.

They were also sentenced under section 148 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly) to one year imprisonment with fine of Rs 50,000 individually under both the sections. The court exonerated them under section 7 of the Anti- Terrorism Act, section 12 of the Arms Ordinance and section 3/4 of the Explosive Substance Act.

The CID has claimed that Malangae was an Afghan refugee and had been active in smuggling of different foreign goods for the past 12 years. The accused had also got released his impounded trucks from the police lines in Lahore and Customs check-post at Kund in Nowshera by force some time back.