KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has upheld the life terms handed down to six policemen by the trial court for trafficking 77 kilogrammes of hashish in their official police van from Jamshoro to Karachi.

A two-judge regular bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Omar Sial, noted that the appellants were apprehended red-handed with a substantial quantity of contraband and that the chemical examination report also confirmed that the seized substance was hashish.

A sessions court had sentenced the six policemen — Ghulam Abbas, Muhammad Yaqoob, Aijaz Ali Mallah, Abdul Hameed, Rahib Hussain and Ahmed Nawaz — then posted at CIA Jamshoro, to life in prison in June last year after they were caught red-handed with hashish in a Clifton locality in July 2021.

The convicts, through their counsel, filed appeals against the trial court’s verdict before the SHC.

Bench observes there’s no reason for police to frame own officers in fake hashish seizure case

After hearing both sides and examining the record and proceedings of the case, the bench dismissed the appeals and upheld the conviction order.

Representing the appellants, senior lawyer Farooq H. Naek argued extensively and also submitted a written synopsis stating that the impugned judgement was per incuriam because, when it was announced, the Sindh Control of Narcotic Substances (SCNS) Act, 1997 had been repealed by the SCNS Act, 2024.

He also questioned the safe custody and transmission of the case property.

In contrast, an additional prosecutor general strongly supported the impugned judgement.

The bench, in its order, noted that none of the arguments advanced by counsel for the appellants had convinced the court to interfere with the trial court’s judgement.

It added that the case law submitted by counsel did not contain any principle of law that would aid the appellants, nor were any of the SHC’s observations in conflict with it.

The bench also observed that the appellants were apprehended red-handed with a substantial quantity of hashish in their possession, and that the chemical analysts’ report also supported the prosecution’s case.

It further said: “No mala fide existed for the police to foist the charas and register a false case against someone from within its own ranks. Safe custody and transmission of the case property was proved at the trial. The appellants’ defence is weak and unsubstantiated. It was alleged that the appellants exchanged harsh words with officials of the Pakistan Rangers at the Jamshoro Toll Plaza and that this case was therefore foisted upon them.

“It is surprising, in the circumstances of the case, that they were unable to produce any witness to support or corroborate their claim,” the bench observed.

The prosecution said that the Boat Basin police had received a tip-off that a police mobile was transporting a large quantity of hashish and a patrolling team intercepted the vehicle, apprehended the policemen and found two sacks containing hashish weighing a total of 77kg.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2026