PESHAWAR, Dec 2: A local special anti-narcotics court acquitted a person of the charge of drug trafficking here on Saturday.

Additional district and sessions judge Hussain Bahadur Khan observed that the prosecution could not prove the charge.

The accused, Suleman Shah, resident of Bara of Khyber Agency, was arrested on April 27, 1998, by the Crime Branch police.

The police claimed that they had been tipped off that a consignment would be concealed in a Pajero, bearing a fake registration number plate of the Frontier Constabulary, and that a pilot car would accompany the Pajero.

According to the police, they cordoned off Kohat Road near Mathani and, in the meantime, spotted the car. They chased the vehicle, but the car driver escaped.

The police claimed that they had spotted and chased the Pajero and found it at an abandoned place.

They added that the driver had escaped, but Suleman Shah had been found in the vehicle. The police allegedly seized 560kg charas and a pistol from the vehicle.

The raid was said to have been conducted by DSP Shah Wali Khan, who is absconding as he is required by the National Accountability Bureau in a case of possessing illegal assets.

Advocate Noor Alam Khan, who appeared before the court for the defendant, contended that Shah had been implicated in the case. He said that initially, the police had stated that the financier of the consignment was Shabir Ahmad Shah of Sindh as the accused had been possessing a chit bearing his name but later, Shabir Ahmad Shah had been absolved of the charge despite the fact that he was an absconder.

The defence counsel asked when the police had cordoned off the area how the car and the Pajero could have managed to escape.

He also asked the prosecution why the accused had not escaped although he had been in a better position to escape as compared to the driver of the Pajero.

He claimed that the police had found the vehicle abandoned and they had later arrested the defendant, claiming that the defendant had been present in that vehicle.