KARACHI: The Special Court of Customs Taxation and Anti-Smuggling has rejected the application of an alleged smuggler seeking his acquittal in a dumper truck smuggling case.
Judge Syed Faiz Rasool Rashdi dismissed the application filed by Imran Khan who moved the application under Section 265-K of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Section 265-K of CrPC empowers a court to acquit an accused at any stage.
According to the prosecution, a dumper truck worth Rs 3 million was seized from Sukkur Bypass after its owner failed to produce its import documents. Subsequently, an FIR was registered against its owner Khan under the customs laws.
Advocate Abdul Hafeez, who represented the accused, submitted that when the customs adjudicating officer issued show-cause notice to the owner over his involvement in smuggling dumper truck, he produced all the relevant import documents. Nevertheless, an Order-in-Original was issued against him.
Subsequently, the counsel said, the owner challenged the ONO before the Customs Appellate Tribunal which was allowed and the ONO was set aside. Since he had proved that the truck was legally imported, he should be acquitted in the case, the counsel argued while requesting the court to allow the application.
