KARACHI: The judgment in a long drawn gold smuggling case has been deferred for the fifth time. The Special Court of Customs Taxation and Anti-Smuggling has set December 15 for the pronouncement of the judgment.
According to the details of the case, in February 1996 the Anti-Smuggling Organization of Pakistan Customs had thwarted a bid to smuggle gold into the country.
The ASO had caught a boat with 12,000 tolas of gold worth estimated at Rs 600 million. Four suspects Hussain, Dawood, Abbas and Muhammad Umer, who were on the boat, were arrested. Subsequently, the custom authorities had registered a case against the accused persons under the relevant sections of Customs Act 1969. They were later released by the court on bail.
According to the official sources, it is a long-drawn smuggling case in the history of such cases as it suffered inordinate delays because of frequent transfers of investigation officers and prosecutors. Besides, the court had heard arguments four times and reserved the verdict of judgment two times but the decision could not be announced. Thus, the criminal trial re-opened again.
