KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Thursday sentenced two men to 14-year imprisonment for possessing explosive substance.

Wasi Ahmed and Fakhrul Islam were found guilty of carrying explosive material in July last year in the Quaidabad area.

Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso of the ATC-I pronounced his verdict after recording evidence of witnesses and concluding arguments from both sides.

The court also handed down five-year imprisonment to both the accused in two connected cases pertaining to illicit weapons.

It also imposed a fine of Rs20,000 each and in case of non-payment the convicts would have to undergo an additional six-months imprisonment.

A case was registered against them under Section 4/5 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 at the Quaidabad police station.

They were also separately booked under Section 23 (1) (a) of the Sindh Arms Act, 2013.

Education officials sent to jail

An anti-corruption court remanded on Thursday a senior official of the Sindh education department and his subordinate in judicial custody in a graft case.

The anti-corruption establishment (ACE) arrested Director-Schools Abdul Wahab Abbasi and his assistant Sagheer Wasti on Feb 25 for allegedly misappropriating around Rs5 million in the name of ghost employees’ pension.

The investigation officer produced the suspects in court and sought their custody for questioning.

The IO also moved an application to seize the bank accounts of both suspects.

Judge Gulshan Ara Chandio of the Special Provincial Anti-Corruption Court sent the suspects to prison on judicial remand till March 5 and asked the IO to complete the investigation and submit a report on the next hearing.

The court also allowed an application of suspect Abbasi for better facilities in prison.

It issued notices for Friday to the prosecutor and the defence on the application of the IO regarding seizure of the bank accounts.

A case was registered under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant or by banker, merchant), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.) 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471(using as genuine a forged document) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Anti-Corruption Act 1947 at the ACE police station.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2015

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