KARACHI: A Special Court (Control of Narcotic Substances) has sentenced five Iranians and a Pakistani man to life imprisonment for attempting to smuggle over 500kg of drugs from Mubarak Village to foreign countries through the sea route.

Special Court (CNS) Judge Rajesh Chander Rajput, found five Iranian nationals — Malik Mohammad, Anwar Perak, Naveed Doshambay, Akbar Hashim and Mohammad Jalal — and a Pakistani, Hameed Ahmed, guilty of possessing a total of 462.339kg of heroin and 38.480 kg of crystal methamphetamine (commonly known as Ice), which was recovered from them by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) in a raid at Sonheri Point in Mubarak Village in Dec 2021.

“[The] accused have not attributed any animosity with the prosecution witnesses or any other ANF official which should serve as a motive for their false implication in this case. It is further not appealing to a prudent mind that such a huge quantity of narcotics which is worth tens of millions of rupees shall be planted by law enforcers on an innocent person without there being any serious enmity between them. Rather, the accused have admitted to be foreign nationals of Iran origin who were navigating in deep sea and were captured by the PMSA [Pakistan Maritime Security Agency],” the court observed.

It also imposed a fine of Rs1 million on each, on default they would to serve additional imprisonment.

PMSA captured the accused with drugs from deep sea

According to state prosecutor Abdul Hannan, acting on a tip-off, a team of the ANF conducted a raid at Sonheri Point in Mubarak Village and apprehended seven individuals, including a minor, who were allegedly hiding in the bushes near the coastline.

While searching their nylon sacks, the ANF allegedly recovered a large quantity of narcotics, including heroin and crystal methamphetamine (Ice).

During interrogation, one of the accused, Hameed, allegedly disclosed that he was a resident of a village in Turbat and had begun working with a proclaimed absconder, Seth Ali Jan. He further claimed that a few weeks prior to their arrest, Ali — said to be involved in drug smuggling in partnership with his Iranian accomplice Nadil — had informed him that the accused were to transport the narcotics by a boat to Pansi Port, from where the consignment would be moved to Yemen, Tanzania and other countries.

Regarding the proclaimed offenders, Ali and Nadil, the court ruled that the case file be kept as dormant till their arrest and concerned ANF police station shall preserve the representative samples of recovered narcotics until then while destroying the bulk of recovered narcotics and psychotropic substances in accordance with the law.

During the trial, the defence counsel denied the allegation and claimed innocence, contending that the accused were arrested by the PMSA from the deep sea in Pakistan waters for alleged illegal international border crossing and after four days, the PMSA handed over them to ANF. He pointed out that the FIR was registered with a delay, which creates serious doubt in the case.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2025