PESHAWAR, March 6: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court directed here on Thursday the Nowshera police not to arrest two minor boys accused of attacking officials of the customs department.

The bench, comprising PHC Chief Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice Ijazul Hassan, observed that the two boys — Ziarat Gul (5) and Wali Khan (13) — were two small to attack the officials.

The court disposed of a writ petition filed on behalf of the two boys and also expressed annoyance over charging minor boys by the police in the FIR without ascertaining their names and ages.

The police and the customs department had registered two separate FIRs on Nov 8, 2002, against a petroleum dealer, Malang Jan, his sons and associates, for attacking officials of customs department and damaging various things in the premises of customs mobile squad at Kund, Nowshera district.

The customs officials claimed that they had stopped an oil tanker carrying smuggled Iranian petrol to Punjab. However, some people attacked their premises and took away the oil tanker.

The police in its FIR had claimed that Malang Jan, his sons and cousins had attacked the customs office. The FIR was registered under sections 506, 222, 148, 149 and 649 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The petitioners prayed that Malang Jan had only two sons, both of whom were minors, and due to their age they could not get involved in such attacks. They requested the court to issue directives to the police not to arrest the two boys as they had nothing to do with the commission of the offence.

Additional Advocate-General Imtiaz Ahmad appeared for the police and said that keeping in view the ages of the two boys the police had no intention to arrest them.

He pointed out that another bench of the high court had issued an order in almost identical writ petition in which the officials of the customs department were directed not to arrest these boys.

The bench asked a sub-inspector of Akora Khattak, Munawar Khan, not to arrest the two minors.

ARREST: A proclaimed offender, wanted by police in a triple murder case, was arrested from a Karachi-bound bus at Saffin police checkpoint on the Kohat road on Wednesday.