PESHAWAR, Oct 30: The Peshawar High Court has granted bail to a woman who was facing drug trafficking charges. A single-judge bench of Justice Saleem Khan ordered that the accused-petitioner, Gulab Zari, be released on humanitarian grounds after furnishing two sureties of Rs50,000 each.

The court was told that a gang of drug traffickers had duped the woman into carrying five packets of hashish. Ms Zari said that she had no knowledge of the presence of illegal drugs in the packets which were handed over to her by members of the gang.

Ms Zari was arrested at Jehangira railway station on Feb 17.

Police began a strict watch over the railway station after receiving information that some women would try to smuggle narcotics.

They said they had spotted the suspected woman and on her search they recovered five packets from her possession.

The woman was charged under section 9 of the Control of Narcotics Substance Act, 1997.

The chairman, Voice of Prisoners, Noor Alam Khan, appeared for the woman and stated that she was a destitute woman and deserved to be released on bail. He said the woman had three sons and two daughters. Two years ago, he added, her husband Ghareebullah suffered a spinal cord injury following which the family had to sell their house having to spend on his treatment.

Mr Khan argued that she had no knowledge of the presence of narcotics in the parcels. He contended that the woman was the sole bread winner of her family and also had to take care of her ailing husband.