PESHAWAR, Jan 16: The special judge, anti-smuggling, Nowshera, on Tuesday issued arrest warrants of three officials of Anti-Narcotics Force taking exception to their continuous non-appearance in a case.

The court, presided over by District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Ayaz Khan, sent a letter to the NWFP ANF Director Brig Inamul Haq, stating that the force’s officials were not above the law. The court asked him to positively produce the three persons on Jan 28.

In the case, two persons have been in prison for more than three years  and the three officials have not been appearing despite repeated notices.

The officials - Inspector Taj Mir Ali, presently serving in Quetta, a Moharir Atta Mohammad, now in Rawalpindi, and Inspector Raza Khan, who retired recently - are prosecution witnesses.

The court observed that no proceedings could be made due to the attitude  of the officials. “Nobody is above the law and everybody has to respect  it,” the presiding officer maintained.

The court directed that the warrants should now be executed through the ANF director as previously the police could not execute them. The officials failed to turn up before the court during the last two years in more than a dozen proceedings.

The accused, Aizaz Ameen and Shahid, were arrested by the excise department staff on Nov 22, 1998, near Attock Bridge, when they were travelling in a Suzuki van. The driver of the van escaped. The excise staff seized 125kg charas from the vehicle. Later, the accused were handed over to the ANF and chalan of the case was submitted before the court in early 1999.

Interestingly, instead of the Attock Bridge, the ANF showed that the accused had been arrested on the GT Road in Peshawar.