PESHAWAR: A special court has convicted an accused for smuggling narcotics in an ambulance vehicle and sentenced him to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs500,000.

The special judge (control of narcotics), Sumbal Naseer, pronounced that the prosecution proved its case against the accused, Arif Khan, a resident of Bannu district. The judge also ordered confiscation of the state’s vehicle used in the offence by the accused.

Discussing different aspects of the case in its 21-page judgement, the court ruled: “For the foregoing reasons, I find that the prosecution has proved, through consistent, natural and unshaken testimony, corroborated by the recovery memo, the chain of custody of samples, and the positive report of Forensic Science Laboratory, that accused Arif Khan was in conscious possession of twelve kilograms of charas a commercial quantity concealed within the vehicle under his control.”

The court ruled that defence failed to rebut the evidence or to create any reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case. “The charge stands proved beyond reasonable doubt,” the judge ruled.

According to the prosecution, a team of Anti- Narcotics Force (ANF) officials had on Jan 8, 2025, intercepted an ambulance vehicle on Ring Road, which was driven by the accused.

Upon inquiry, the accused admitted the presence of narcotics in some secret cavities of the vehicle. The team recovered from the secret cavities 10 packets containing 12 kilograms of charas.

Consequently, FIR was registered against the accused at ANF police station, Peshawar for possession and trafficking of a commercial quantity of narcotics. The accused had denied the charges and claimed that he was falsely implicated in the instant case.

He stated that on Jan 7, 2025, he was sleeping at his home when some persons visited him and asked about registration of the vehicle in question.

He claimed that he informed them that he had already sold out the vehicle to one Raees Khan and was no longer having its possession. However, he claimed that he was brought to the police station and charged in the case as the registration of the vehicle was still in his name.

The ANF special prosecutor rebutted his claims and stated that he was caught red-handed by the raiding team and was directly charged in the FIR.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2026