KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has vacated its stay order that restrained Pakistan Customs from arresting a suspect in a case pertaining to the smuggling of poppy seed.
A division bench comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Junaid Ghaffar declined the petitioner’s plea to extend the stay order against his arrest, directing him to obtain bail from the court concerned. The bench was hearing the petition filed by Imran Khan who moved the court against the customs authorities for allegedly implicating him in the criminal case. He pleaded to the court to restrain the authorities from arresting him in the case.
Opposing the petitioner’s plea, Advocate Kashif Nazir, the counsel for the customs department, requested the court to vacate its stay order as the accused was involved in the smuggling of restricted item poppy seed and his custody is required for interrogation.
According to the customs officials, M/s Rustam Towel Private Limited, M/s Friend Export (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Nadeem Enterprises, M/s Unity Freight International and M/s Virani Traders tried to smuggle poppy to Germany in the garb of polyester, cotton and dried printed fabric. On physical examination, the authorities found that the consignment contained poppy seeds weighting 27.81 metric tons packed in 1119 bags.
