KARACHI: The Special Custom and Taxation Court has imposed a penalty of Rs 500,000 on a suspect when he pleaded guilty to his role in smuggling of a huge quantity of liquor into the country and ordered his release after payment of the penalty.
Judge Syed Faiz Rasool Rashdi was hearing a case pertaining to the smuggling of foreign-origin liquor under the garb of import of Test Liner Recycle Liner Paper Rolls.
According to the prosecution, the Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation had seized a huge quantity of whisky, alcohol beverages of assorted brands which were concealed inside 18 Rolls of Test Liner Recycle Liner Paper. The goods seized included 3,340 bottles of Black Label, 1,030 bottles of Red Label, 993 bottles of White & Mac, 298 bottles of Cattos, 181 bottles of Vodka, 260 bottles of Cordier, 212 bottles of Grant, 1 bottle of Medoc, four bottles of Listel, 141 bottles of Chivas Regal, 293 cases of 6,816 cans of Beer Carlsberg.
Subsequently, an FIR was registered against Abdul Dawood, the proprietors of M/s A-Z Corporation, his accomplices Shahid Khatri, Muhammad Zubair, Jawad Ghaffar, Rashid Iqbal, and Saleem aka Mamo.
Shahid Khatri has been behind the bars for over fourteen months and Jawad Ghafar was imprisoned since March 2015. However, the rest of the accused persons were still on the loose.
The counsel for Shahid Khatri moved an application requesting the court to order release of his client on bail on the grounds of statutory delay.
After perusing the application, the judge summoned a report from the superintendent of the Central Prison, Karachi on whether or not the accused was involved in other heinous crimes.
However, Jawad confessed to his involvement in the crime and put himself at the mercy of the court. The court imposed a penalty of Rs 500,000 on him and ordered his release since he has served over five months in prison.
