KARACHI: The Special Court (Control of Narcotics Substances) has sentenced a man to death in a drug smuggling case.

The court found accused Qamar Mehmood guilty of attempting to smuggle abroad 20 kilograms of heroin by concealing the drug in tractor tyres.

The court acquitted co-accused Atique Rehman by giving him the benefit of the doubt after the prosecution failed to prove its case against him.

However, the judge directed customs authorities to cancel the export licence of the accused since he had violated the law.

According to the prosecution, in June 2016, the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had got a tip-off that an international drug cartel using a export licence was going to smuggle a huge quantity of narcotics by concealing the consignment in the tyres of a tractor. The ANF conducted a raid and recovered two polythene bags, each containing 10kg of heroin.

During investigations, it was revealed that convict Qamar was trying to smuggle the drug on the export licence of Atique.

A case was registered at the ANF-Clifton police station against the accused under Sections 6/9-C and 14/15 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997.

In its verdict, the court noted that accused Qamar was already convicted of drug smuggling in 2014 in Lahore.

The defence counsel had contended that there was a delay of five days in lodging of the FIR. The court, however, found this argument lacking and observed that the defence failed to establish any links with the delay.

The court also issued perpetual life warrants for the arrest of absconding accused Meraj.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2024