KARACHI, June 2: A special court for Control of Narcotic Substances on Thursday sentenced a drug peddler to life in prison.

The court found Javed, son of Yar Asghar, guilty of keeping 20 kilograms of hashish in March 2004 within the remit of the Pirabad police station. It also imposed a fine of Rs1 million on the convict, and ruled that in case of default, he would have to undergo an additional three-year imprisonment.

The judge of the special CNS court-II, Sanaullah Khan Ghoury, pronounced the judgment after recording evidence of witnesses and final arguments from both sides.

The verdict said that the prosecution had brought confidence-inspiring evidence to the court and the witnesses fully supported its case. The witnesses were subjected to lengthy cross-examination but their evidence remained unshaken, it added.

The court observed that the accused failed to produce anything to establish enmity with the policemen for his false implication in the present case.

Referring to a contention of the defence lawyer that only 11 out of the 20 packets of hashish were produced in the court, the verdict said that it was without any force as the complainant had deposed that the whole case property was produced before the court and defence lawyer had not put any question in this regard.

The court further observed that the accused had said he was arrested in a house at the instigation of some relatives of the coaccused, but he was unable to produce any evidence to prove this.

From the perusal of evidence of three witnesses and recovery of hashish, the charges against the accused had been proved beyond a shadow of doubt, it concluded.

According to the prosecution, acting upon spy information a police party conducted a raid near Chota Graveyard in Frontier Colony and arrested Javed and Farmanullah. The police recovered two bags of hashish from their possessions and each bag was containing 20 kilos of hashish.

Accused Farmanullah was released on bail in 2005. However, he did not turn up before the court and was declared proclaimed offender.

A case (52/04) was registered against the accused under Section 6/9-C of the CNS Act, 1997 at the Pirabad police station.

The judge also ruled that the convict was entitled for benefit of the period he spent as an under-trial prisoner as provided under Section 382-B of the criminal procedure code.

The jail authorities produced the accused in the court in custody and after the pronouncement of the order the judge remanded him back to prison along with the conviction warrant to serve out the remainder of his sentence.