PESHAWAR, Feb 11: The court of additional district and sessions judge on Monday acquitted two persons of drug pushing, after the police were found involved in fabrication of evidence against them.
The court, presided over by Tariq Yousafzai, observed that the prosecution could not prove its case against Gul Shehzada and Shamsher Ali.
The Chamkani police had arrested the two in separate cases on June 26 and claimed that they were involved in drug pushing. The police had also claimed that they had recovered contraband from the accused’s possession.
Appearing for the accused, advocate Noor Alam Khan informed the court that Gul Shehzada was the uncle of Shamsher. According to the FIRs, he said, both the accused were arrested by the same police party but at different places.
He stated that Gul Shehzada was arrested at 8.45pm, whereas Shamsher was at 9.15pm. He added that the places shown by the police from where they were arrested were quite far away from each other and it was not possible for the same police party to reach the other spot within 30 minutes. How could it be possible for the same police party to be present at different spots at about the same time? he asked.
The lawyer claimed that the said police party used to tease passersby at nighttime and received bribe from them. He said that both the accused were travelling in a Suzuki pick-up and were arrested at the same time and when they declined to bribe the police, separate FIRs were registered against them and they were falsely implicated in the case.
ESCAPED: An alleged drug trafficker escaped from the custody of Customs official in Peshawar on Tuesday.
Three officials of the customs department were suspended by the high-up on the charges of negligence on their part, sources said.
On Saturday last, the Customs officials of Khairabad checkpoint in Nowshera district stopped a van (FDY-6847) and during checking recovered 270 kg of hashish and 30 kg of opium concealed in secret cavities of the vehicle’s roof and arrested Mohsin Ali Shah, a resident of Taxila, and Mehboob, a resident of Khanpur.
The accused were brought to Peshawar for investigation. But on Sunday, Mohsin Ali Shah escaped from detention sell of the Excise and Sales Tax office, the sources said.