SHC denies bail to man caught in heroin smuggling case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has dismissed the bail application of a man in a heroin smuggling case. Syed Mohammad Abbas had been arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) for trying to send 3.1 kilograms of heroin powder to Canada.

According to the prosecution, an ANF official checked a suspicious parcel being sent to Canada at a courier service and recovered heroin powder weighing 3.1kg concealed in ladies purses. The ANF investigator said the sender’s name was found to be Zain Yar Khan, and the receiver’s Saif Khan.

The applicant’s counsel said his client was falsely implicated in the case by the ANF because no incriminating material was recovered from him, while all the documents were in the name of co-accused Khan, who had already been granted bail by the court.

He said the applicant had been arrested in the case on the basis of a statement of the co-accused, which was inadmissible under the law. He also said that no evidence had been produced with regard to the recovery of the alleged contraband by the private witnesses. He added that the main accused had been granted bail, while his client was incarcerated since April 28, 2020.

The ANF’s special prosecutor opposed the bail application, saying that 3.1kg heroin powder had been recovered from the parcel booked through a courier service for Canada by the applicant through the co-accused, and 1.5kg heroin powder had also been recovered from his possession.

After hearing the arguments of the case, a single SHC bench headed by Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput said that there was a relation between the applicant and the co-accused that was undeniable.

Moreover, the court pointed out, the applicant had been found in possession of the same ladies purses in which 1.5kg heroin powder had been concealed in a similar manner. The bench said that trafficking heroin powder in a large quantity can have devastating effects on society in general, and it is a threat to the honour of the country in international community particularly.

The court said that there was no case for granting bail to the applicant on the grounds that alleged further inquiry had been made, and so the court dismissed the bail application.