SHC grants bail to man in drug smuggling case

The Sindh High Court has granted bail to a man in a drugs smuggling case. The applicant, Kashif Ali, was arrested by the Customs police while coming to Karachi from Balochistan in a passenger bus. The Customs police claimed to have seized 14.8 kilogrammes of a narcotics substance and 2,200 cartridges of banned boostin plus injection, which is used for increasing milk production in animals, from his possession.

According to the prosecution, the applicant was trying to smuggle boostin plus injections for enhancing milk production and due to its hazardous effects on the quality of milk, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has placed a ban on its import, manufacturing and sale.

A counsel for the applicant sought bail stating that other co-accused had also been granted bail in the matter. A single bench of the SHC headed by Justice Idnan Iqbal Chaudhry observed that despite the court order, the Boostin injections were not included in the Appendix–A of the Import Policy Order, which is the negative list of banned items.

The SHC observed that the applicant was arrested on November 27, 2023, on suspicion that he was one of the distributors to whom the co-accused Abdul Wahid had delivered ‘contraband goods’ through a taxi driver namely Mohammad Shafi.

The high court, however, observed that the distribution of goods allegedly made to the applicant in the challan appeared to be of narcotics, specifically marijuana. The SHC observed that it appeared that the investigation officer had made no distinction between ‘boostin’ injections and ‘narcotics’. The bench observed that the distribution of the latter was an offence under the Control of Narcotics Substances Act, 1997, not the Customs Act, 1969.

The high court observed that in any case, no recovery of any goods was made from the applicant and the allegations against the applicant called for a further inquiry therefore, the applicant was entitled to bail in the aforesaid FIR subject to furnishing a solvent surety in the sum of Rs100,000 along with a PR Bond in the similar amount to the satisfaction of the trial court.

The high court observed that the observations in the order were tentative and shall not be construed to prejudice the case of either side at trial.