KARACHl: Two stewards of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), who were arrested in Paris last week on charges of drug smuggling, have been sentenced to two years in prison by a French court, it is learnt here on Thursday.

Flight Steward Tanveer Gulzar was detained after drugs were found from his possession during body search at the Paris airport. Another steward Amir Moeen was arrested from his hotel after police interrogated Tanveer Gulzar. Sources said Moeen had allegedly facilitated Gulzar in the smuggling.

The court handed down a two-year prison sentence to each of them after finding them guilty of smuggling heroin on IslamabadParis flight PK-749.

PIA spokesman Mashood Tajwar told Dawn that airline`s officials were waiting for a copy of the court verdict. He said the stewards, who had already been suspended, would be dismissed from service once the judgement was received from Paris.

The sources said that the aviation secretary has asked the PIA chief to submit a report after assigning responsibility on officials involved in the smuggling and those found to have shown negligence.