Court bails out man accused of smuggling

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday issued the release order of an accused charged with smuggling a new form of drug to Saudi Arabia from Peshawar, which is called ice.

A single bench of Justice Yahya Afridi granted bail to an accused person Abdullah, a resident of Swat, who was accused of smuggling ice to Saudi Arabia.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer, Shabbir Hussain Gigyani submitted that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested the accused person on November 23, 2016 at the Bacha Khan International Airport when he was leaving for Saudi Arabia.

He submitted that as per the First Information Report (FIR), the FIA claimed that 1,020 grams ICE was recovered from possession of the accused. He was charged under Section 9 of Control Narcotics Substance Act (CNSA).

The lawyer said that the FIA had reportedly recovered the narcotics from bag of the accused. As per the statement of the accused, he said, another person had handed him over the bag and he did not know about the narcotics in the bag.

The lawyer submitted that the petitioner is a poor man and the charges veracity would be proved during the trial. He prayed the court to grant bail to the accused.

However, the state lawyer opposed bail. He submitted that smuggling ice was a serious crime and the substance was recovered from a bag which was in his possession.