PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has set aside the conviction of two people, including a juvenile person, in a drug trafficking case and acquitted them over flawed prosecution.

Accepting the appeals of convicts Shah Alam and Shahbaz Khan, a bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Irshad Qaisar observed that the evidence on record didn’t connect the two with the commission of the offence.

The officials of Charssada police arrested the two in Prang area on Dec 10, 2011, when they were travelling in a pickup truck.

Faulty prosecution led to their exoneration

The police alleged that Shah Alam drove the pickup truck, while the other, Shahbaz, stated to be around 15 at the time of the arrest, sat with him when they seized 28kg heroin concealed in a spare wheel.

An additional district judge convicted the two on Nov 21, 2012, and sentenced them to life imprisonment with fine of Rs100,000 each under Section 9 of the Control of Narcotics Substance Act.

Noor Alam Khan, lawyer for the appellants, said their clients were falsely implicated in the case and the evidence on record proved that the prosecution version was full of loopholes.

He said the prosecution had not produced before the trial court the spare wheel of the truck, from where drugs were allegedly recovered.

The lawyer said while the prosecution claimed that there were 12 policemen on spot, who were witness to the recovery of the contraband, they had only produced two people, who were gunmen of the relevant SHO.

He said when the case property was produced before the trial court, it was mentioned that it was 30kg which showed that the said property was not of the case and therefore, it made the entire recovery doubtful.

The lawyer said appellant Shah Alam, who dealt in poultry business, belonged to Bannu and had stayed at the house of his friend, Mohammad Naeem, in Peshawar.

He said the next day he went to Charssada along with Shahbaz for the recovery of money from a poultry agent.

The lawyer said the two met an accident in Charssada and went to the hospital along with an injured person and that they’re arrested when they were returning from hospital.

He said the defence witnesses had deposed in the favour of his clients.

The state counsel said the two suspects were caught red-handed while smuggling contraband.

He said the seized contraband was recovered from the vehicle owned by suspect Shah Alam.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2015

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