PESHAWAR, June 15: An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday dismissed the bail petition of an alleged smuggler, Zahir Khan alias Malangay, and his 13 accomplices.

The court presided over by Akhter Zareef Khan observed that the accused were not entitled to be released on bail. The accused were arrested by the crimes investigation department after an exchange of fire on May 24, during which a smuggler was killed.

They were charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, and the Customs Act 1969. The CID had claimed that Malangay was an Afghan refugee and he had been involved in smuggling for 12 years.

Recently, the accused had got released his impounded trucks from thepolice lines in Lahore and a customs checkpoint at Kund in Nowshera by force. It has been alleged that Malangay paid millions of rupees to law-enforcement agencies' officials in the NWFP and Punjab to get hissmuggled goods cleared.

The National Accountability Bureau has alsobeen probing the involvement of police officials in his business. The petitioners' counsel argued that they were falsely implicated in the case and there was no evidence on record which could connect them with the offence.

The public prosecutor contended that the accused had been caught red handed. He said an exchange of fire took place between the law-enforcement agencies and the accused.