SHC grants bail to man in Boostin injections smuggling case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has granted bail to a man who was involved in importing the prohibited Boostin injections. Applicant Mustafa Sikandar had been arrested by the Customs authorities for being involved in smuggling a large quantity of Boostin injections of foreign origin despite the ban.

According to the prosecution, one accused Mohammad Ali was arrested by the Customs authorities this May with a large quantity of the prohibited injections that are administered to cows and buffaloes for increasing milk production, and he could not explain how they were imported in Pakistan.

The prosecution said that the use of such injections had been banned by the Supreme Court, which in 2018 had restrained its import, manufacture and sale due to its hazardous effects on the quality of milk so produced.

The applicant’s counsel said that his client was falsely implicated by the Customs authorities based on the statement of the co-accused Ali, whose implication could not be relied upon. Besides, he added, no recovery of the prohibited injections were made from the possession of the applicant.

He said that three other persons had also been implicated, namely Mohammad Karim, his brother-in-law Muneeb Ahmed and one Hemon Das, and all were allegedly complicit in the crime of smuggling, supplying and selling Boostin injections.

He added that a number of Boostin injections had been recovered during a raid at the residence of the co-accused Ahmed, and there was no role of the applicant, but only the statement of the co-accused, who said the applicant was his partner.

The special prosecutor and the federal law officer opposed the bail application. However, after hearing the arguments of the counsel, a single SHC bench headed by Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry said the applicant had been arrested on May 15, but admittedly no recovery was made from him.

The court said that the trial court had on August 17 charged the applicant with smuggling into Pakistan Boostin injections of foreign origin that were banned by the order of the SC.

The bench said the prosecution witnesses who were intelligence and preventive officers of the Customs had acknowledged during the cross-examination that despite the SC’s order, Boostin injections were not included in Appendix-A of the Import Policy Order, which was the negative list of banned items.

The court said whether that is of any consequence when there are no documents to show how the said items were imported is an aspect yet to be examined by the trial court, and besides, the prosecution witnesses admitted that no recovery had been made from the applicant.

The bench said the prosecution witnesses also admitted in their statements that no recovery had been affected on the pointing of the applicant and no documentary evidence had been collected during the investigation to establish any connection between the co-accused Ali and the applicant.

The court said that a confession is only proof against the person making it and since the co-accused is being tried jointly for the same offence, such a confession can at best be considered circumstantial evidence. It said that prima facie there does not appear to be any other evidence against the applicant.

The bench said that in the instant case no recovery was made from the applicant, the act of smuggling was yet to be established against him, and the only evidence against him was the guilty plea of the convicted accused, who was let off on a lenient sentence, so the case against the applicant was one of further enquiry into his guilt.

The court granted bail to the applicant with a surety of Rs1 million, along with personal recognisance bond in the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court.