PESHAWAR, Jan 16: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday upheld conviction of a South African woman in a case of drug trafficking and dismissed her appeal.

A two-member bench comprising the Chief Justice Tallat Qayyum Qureshi and Justice Malik Ghulam Muhiuddin observed that the evidence on record were enough for her conviction.

The bench decided appeal of Ms Sky Polen in absence of her counsel as he did not turn up due to boycott of superior courts by the lawyers.

The appellant was convicted by the special judge anti narcotics on Sept 5, 2007, and was sentenced to four years imprisonment with fine of Rs50,000. The woman was arrested by the Anti Narcotics Force on Sept 13, 2006, at the Peshawar International Airport.

The ANF claimed of recovering 2.3 kg of heroin from her luggage, which she allegedly intended to smuggle to South Africa.

The appellant, who is about 28, claimed that she was employed at a computer firm in Johannesburg and she came in touch with a Pakistani man. She stated that she had friendship with the said person who asked her to visit Pakistan.

The woman stated that when she came to Pakistan she was trapped by a gang of traffickers who took away her passport. She stated that she was forced to carry a bag in return of her passport and return air ticket.

The woman was granted bail by a judicial magistrate in Sep 2006 under the law introduced by the president for releasing women prisoners on bail. However, she was re-arrested after her conviction.