THATTA: The Special Court for the Control of Narcotic Substances ordered registration of an FIR against SHO of the Darro police station after a drugs-related case against a shopkeeper proved to be “false and fabricated”.

The shopkeeper, Ghulam Mustafa Soomro, was acquitted in the case.

The case was registered under Section 9-1(3)(C) of the Sindh Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 2025, after the police had claimed recovery of nearly 1.5kgs of hashish during a rain on his confectionery shop in Darro on April 21.

Judge Syed Aijaz Ali Shah reached the conclusion after Advocate Aijaz Ahmed Jumani, representing the accused, produced a CCTV footage of the alleged raid and recovery before the judge, who examined it.

A policeman, produced before the judge as the prosecution witness, also denied the recovery of the drugs in his presence.

According to the prosecution, SHO Zulfiqar Ali Shar had raided the shop at about 8pm on April 21 and recovered the drugs along with 4,500 sachets of gutka. The claim was contested by the defence counsel, Advocate Aijaz Ahmed Jumani, who produced a CCTV footage showing a police team taking the accused into custody at 7:05pm. During cross-examination, the SHO and the investigating officer acknowledged contents of the CCTV footage played before the judge.

The judge noted that the prosecution’s case further weakened when the police official, produced as the prosecution witness, testified that no recovery was made in his presence and that his signatures had been obtained later at the police station.

The judge observed that the police also failed to comply with the legal requirement, like video recording or photographic documentation of the recovery. They also did not associate

independent witnesses despite the fact that the alleged raid had been conducted on a place within a busy market, he observed.

The judge ruled that evidence produced before him disproved the police version. He ordered registration of an FIR against the SHO of the Darro police station for allegedly implicating the accused in a false and fabricated case.

The judge directed the Sujawal SSP to book

SHO Zulfiqar Ali Shar under relevant provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), appoint an independent investigating officer and submit a compliance report within the next three days.

The judge also ordered that the narcotics claimed to have been seized in the raid should remain in judicial custody until disposal of the case.

He said that a copy of the judgment should be sent to the Hyderabad DIG for departmental proceedings against the SHO.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2026