KARACHI, Sept 10: A special court for control of narcotic substances on Saturday sentenced three drug peddlers to life imprisonment.

Syed Kazim Raza, Abdul Ghani and Mohammad Murad were found guilty of keeping over 140 kilograms of hashish and four kilos of heroin at a house in Gulshan-i-Iqbal in June 2004.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs1 million each and in case of non-payment the convicts would have to undergo an additional four-year imprisonment.

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

The court in its verdict ruled that it had minutely examined the prosecution evidence and statements of the accused. It also ruled that the evidence of prosecution witnesses appeared to be consistent and trustworthy, as there was no enmity of police officials with the accused persons and they were also not known to the police before the incident.

The verdict said that all the prosecution witnesses have deposed against the accused about their arrest and recovery of hashish and heroin.

Moreover, the accused have not alleged any enmity with policemen for the former’s false involvement in the present case, it added.

From the scrutiny of the whole evidence that came on record, it was established that the contraband articles, proved to be hashish and heroin, were found in a house from where the accused were arrested.

“There is material against the accused persons connecting them with commission of offence without any reasonable doubt,” the court concluded.

According to the prosecution, acting on a tip-off a team of the Anti-Narcotics Force raided a house in Block 10, Railway Housing Society, Gulshan-i-Iqbal on June 5, 2004 and recovered 141.7 kilograms of hashish and four kilos of heroin and arrested Syed Kazim Raza, Abdul Ghani, Mohammad Murad, Asghar Ali and Inayatullah.

The case of Asghar was sent to the juvenile court for trial since he was under age while Inayatullah obtained bail from the high court, but he was declared absconder as he did not turn up before the trial court.

Aqil Qabdani, Arif and Waheed were the other absconders.

A case (08/2004) was registered against the accused men under Section 9-C of the CNS Act, 1997 at the ANF police station in Clifton.

The judge also ruled that the convicts were entitled to the benefit of the period they spent as an undertrial prisoner as provided under Section 382-B of the criminal procedure code.

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

While declaring the absconders as proclaimed offenders, the court issued their life non-bailable warrants through the investigation officer and said their case be kept on a ‘dormant file’ till their arrest.

The court also ruled that the case property was also kept in safe custody till the arrest of the absconding accused.

‘Illegal’ detention

A judicial magistrate on Saturday raided the Shahrah-i-Noor Jehan police station and recovered a man found there apparently in wrongful confinement.

Judicial magistrate Fida Hussain Abbasi conducted the raid along with an applicant in a habeas corpus case and his lawyer on a directive of district and sessions court (central) and got the detainee released on personal bond.

The magistrate ordered the station house officer and an assistant sub-inspector to appear before the district and sessions court on Monday and also directed the detainee and applicant to ensure their presence in court on the day.

Court sources said that as soon as the magistrate entered the police station, the police tried to shift the victim somewhere else, but the judicial officer saw the policemen taking away the detainee and ordered them to stop. The police officials failed to produce any document to justify the confinement of the detainee at the police station, the sources added.

The magistrate would file his report in the district and sessions court on Monday.

Earlier, Farooq Ahmed Siddiqui through his lawyer had filed the habeas corpus application under Section 491 of the criminal procedure code in the court. He stated that a police party headed by ASI Kamal Ansari had picked up his brother, Mansoor Ahmed Siddiqui, from his house within the remit of the Shahrah-i-Noor Jehan police station on Sept 8.

The applicant alleged that the police were demanding money for his brother’s release. He said that his brother had unlawfully been detained at the police station for last two days and prayed to the court for his recovery.

After a preliminary hearing, district and sessions judge (central) Sofia Latif directed the magistrate to conduct a raid on the information provided by the applicant and recover the victim if found in wrongful confinement.