PESHAWAR: A local court has convicted two personnel of excise police for smuggling narcotics and sentenced them to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs1 million each.

The additional sessions judge, Hina Mehwish, pronounced that prosecution successfully proved its case against the two accused persons named Irfan and Mohammad Waqas and the evidence on record connected them with the commission of the offence.

The court sentenced them to life imprisonment on two counts under section 9-D and 11-C of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Control of Narcotics Substance Act (KPCSA) with a fine of Rs500,000 each under each of the two provisions. The court ordered that their sentences should run concurrently.

The deputy public prosecutor, Zulfiqar Ali, appeared for the state and said that the accused were arrested near Dara Adamkhel onAug 8, 2023, by a police party when they were travelling in a vehicle displaying an official registration plate of excise and narcotics control police.

He stated that police had prior tip about smuggling of contraband from Kohat to Peshawar after which they had laid a cordon near Dara Adamkhel. He said that a doublecabin vehicle driven by accused Waqas was stopped by police and on search they recovered 1.84 kgilograms of crystal meth (ice drug) and 8.6 kilograms of heroin from it.

He stated that chemical examination of samples collected from the seized contrabands proved that it was narcotics. He added that the accused, who were low ranking staffers of the excise police, were charged under different provisions of KPCNSA.

He argued that the accused were arrested red-handed while smuggling narcotics. He added that as they were charged in a heinous offence, they didn`t deserve any leniency.