ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: Judicial Magistrate Islamabad Jehangir Mir on Thursday awarded five years of rigorous imprisonment to a man who had committed a robbery at the residence of local lawyer Munir Ellahi Qureshi.

The convict, Anis Ahmed, who was arrested by the secretariat police last year, had confessed his crime before the interrogators as well as the court.

The complainant, Mr Qureshi, who lived within the jurisdiction of the secretariat police, had been deprived of valuables worth thousands in the incident.

The convict would also have to pay a fine of Rs10,000 or undergo another three months of imprisonment.

Meanwhile, District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Farooq Sheikh awarded one year of rigorous imprisonment to a woman who had tried to smuggle 2.5kg of hashish from the NWFP to Punjab.

The woman, Kaniz Bibi, was arrested by the Tarnol police last year while travelling in a passenger coach on GT Road with the contraband concealed in her luggage.

The woman confessed her crime before the court.

There has been a growing number of women drug-smugglers in this part of the country. Another woman, Nasreen, had also been awarded one-and-a-half-year of imprisonment by the same court the other day. She too had confessed her crime.

At least six cases of women involved in the smuggling of drugs have been observed at the district courts of Islamabad during the past one month.