KARACHI: The Customs Court granted after arrest bail to suspects namely Asghar Khan son of Abdul Ghaffar and Shah Jahan son of Rahmat Shah against the surety of Rs300,000 and directed them to make sure appear on next date of hearing, who were arrested in the first information report (FIR) for smuggling of contraband goods into Pakistan.
On 2 March 2021, during the hearing, counsel for the applicants/ accused persons appeared before the court and moved bail application, he argued that his clients are innocent and have been falsely implicated in this case, who are ready to face trail, therefore, court may grant their bail, after the hearing, court granted their bail and directed them to make sure appear before each and every date of hearing.
Earlier, investigation officer submitted interim charge sheet against the above mentioned suspects and informed the court that intelligent unit of model customs collectorate received a tip-off that smuggled/ non-duty paid betel nuts are being transported from Lahore towards through a truck having fake registration number plate no LSB-2065 via National Highway and as per directions by the competent authority, a team of ASO was constituted to foil the attempt of smuggling of non-duty paid/ smuggled betel nuts.
He further has informed the court that team intercepted the same and during the search, recovered foreign origin betel nuts crushed containing 80 kattas weighing 2,000 kg valuing of Rs, 22,00,000 and after the search, above mentioned suspects were asked to produce lawful documents, however, they failed to produce any lawful documents, therefore, after the formalities, customs officials seized the goods along with vehicle and suspects also were taken into customs custody.
After the hearing, the court approved the charge sheet and also issued notice to the customs department on bail applications filed by above mentioned suspects for next date of hearing, court also calls police papers from the investigation officer of the case.
