Chinese national gets nine-year jail in arms smuggling case
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GILGIT: An anti-terrorism court here on Thursday sentenced a Chinese national to nine years imprisonment for trying to smuggle weapons from Pakistan to China via Khunjrab border. The court also imposed ban on him to visit Pakistan again.
Hearing the case, Gilgit ATC judge Shahbaz Khan also asked the Punjab inspector general of police to take action against the arms dealer who sold four pistols and hundreds of bullets to the foreigner.
On May 24 this year, the Khunjrab Security Force (KSF) personnel had arrested a Chinese citizen named Wang Jiangquo from Khunjrab National Park area of Hunza district near the China-Pakistan border for allegedly trying to smuggle arms and ammunition to China. A case was registered against the Chinese national under the anti-terrorism law and the accused shifted to Giglit for investigation.
According to police, the Chinese citizen had arrived Islamabad from China in the first week of May on a one-month visa. He then travelled by bus to Aliabad, Hunza, from where he reached Sost. In Sost he hired a taxi and went to the Khunjrab National Park.
He was caught with four pistols and bullets by Khunjrab Security Force
The taxi driver had told the local police that Wang asked him to slowly move forward while he took photographs. When the Chinese citizen didn’t return, the driver got worried and informed the nearby KSF checkpost officials. The officials along with policemen combed the area and found the man near a glacier.
On search of his bag the police officials reportedly found four pistols, 200 bullets, a map, compass and binoculars.
The police shifted him to Sost town where a case was registered against him under the anti-terrorism law. He was later shifted to Gilgit for investigation.
During the investigation, the suspect confessed to his crime of trying to smuggle four pistols and ammunition across the border. The Gilgit police presented the Chinese national in the local ATC amid tight security. After the court decision he was shifted to district jail, Gilgit.
Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2016
