Karachi court hands life term to man in 360kg heroin smuggling case

KARACHI: A special court dealing with narcotics cases in Karachi has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for attempting to send 360 kilogrammes of heroin to the United Kingdom after concealing the drugs inside sanitation pipes packed in an export container.

The Special Control of Narcotic Substances (CNS) Court found Badshah Wazir guilty in the case and also imposed a fine of Rs1 million. The court said he was described as an agent of Haji Saleemullah of Peshawar, who was identified in the proceedings as an international narcotics smuggler.

In its order, the court observed that the convict had not produced evidence in his defence. "No doubt, name of accused was not appearing on any export paper of the consignment but sufficient oral evidence implicating accused Badshah Wazir in the crime has come on record," it said.

The case stemmed from an Anti-Narcotics Force operation in February 2022. According to the state prosecutor, the ANF had received information that Haji Saleemullah of Peshawar and others were trying to ship a large quantity of narcotics by sea to London, UK. The drugs, the prosecutor said, had been hidden in plastic sanitation pipes with the assistance of their agent, Badshah Wazir of Attock.

Acting on that information, ANF personnel intercepted the container in the examination area, detained the accused and checked the consignment. The cargo consisted of cartons of bathroom accessories, pipe-fitting material and bundles of sanitation plastic pipes.

During the inspection, 60 bundles of sanitation plastic pipes were found to be suspicious. The ANF then recovered heroin from those pipes. According to the prosecution, each pipe was separated and weighed, and six kilogrammes of heroin were found in each one, taking the total seizure to 360 kilogrammes recovered from all 60 bundles.

The prosecution further stated that during interrogation, Badshah allegedly told ANF officials that he had taken part in the offence at the direction of Saleemullah.

A case had been registered at the ANF station under Sections 6 and 9-C read with Sections 14 and 15 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997.

Co-accused and court directions

The court also addressed the status of other accused persons in the case. It said the file relating to three proclaimed absconders — Haji Saleemullah, Safdar and an importer from the UK — would remain dormant until they are arrested.

At the same time, the court acquitted two co-accused after finding that there was insufficient evidence against them.

The ruling brings to a close the trial against Badshah Wazir, while proceedings against the absconding suspects will remain pending until their arrest.