SHC grants bail to traders in smuggled fabrics case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) granted bail to two traders in a smuggling case pertaining to storage of foreign-origin smuggled fabrics in the Lighthouse area.

The applicants, Attaullah and Abdul Wasay, were booked by the Customs authorities under Custom laws and the Import and Export Control Act for smuggling foreign-origin fabrics.

According to the prosecution, officers of the Collectorate of Customs Enforcement raided godowns at Band Gali in the Lighthouse Market in June this year on a tip-off that a substantial quantity of foreign-origin smuggled fabric was stored there.

The prosecution alleged that the applicants and other godown owners did not produce legal documents of foreign-origin fabrics found there, and when Customs officers proceeded to the Adamjee Budha Bai Street to search other godowns, a mob of around 150 to 200 persons, including the applicants, attacked them with stones and sticks, and resorted to aerial firing, as a result of which Customs officials were injured and their vehicles damaged.

A counsel for the applicants submitted that they were not present at the godowns at Band Gali and they had no nexus with the alleged smuggled fabric seized from that location as neither were they fabric traders, nor did they own or use those godowns.

The counsel submitted that the applicants were present on Adamjee Budha Bhai Street when a skirmish broke out between a mob and Customs officers, and they were arrested on the false allegation that they were leading the mob.

The counsel submitted that the applicants were arrested only for arson incident but booked for offences both under the Pakistan Penal Code and Customs Act.

A single bench of the SHC comprising Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry after hearing the arguments observed that regarding the first incident and offence of possessing smuggled fabric, the final challan did not reveal the evidence that could lead to the assumption that the fabric seized during

the search was of foreign origin.

The high court observed that the offence of assaulting Customs officers in which the applicants had already been granted bail would be decided by the trial court while the corresponding offence under the Clause 85 of the Section 156(1) of the Customs Act did not carry imprisonment exceeding two years, and therefore did not fall within the prohibitory clause of the section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The SHC observed that the case against the applicants required further inquiry and granted them bail against a surety of Rs500,000 each.