ISLAMABAD: Control of Narcotics Substance (CNS) Court of Rawalpindi on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to Khadija Shah, a British national and mother of three, for trying to smuggle 63kg heroin to the UK.

Khadija, 26, was arrested from Islamabad airport and jailed in May 2012. She gave birth to a daughter who has remained with her in prison.

Khadija has two other children who were with her at the time of her arrest but were later sent to live with their grandmother in Britain.

She has always maintained that she had no idea what she was carrying as the bags were given to her by her fiance at the time. He escaped from Pakistan after Khadija was arrested and the prosecution has still failed to locate him.

ANF Director Legal retired Col Akhtar Abbas however said ANF arrested the accused with solid evidence and the woman’s conviction was in accordance with law.

He said under the CNS Act, the punishment for smuggling more than 10kg narcotics was not less than life imprisonment.