The mere discovery of narcotics near to the accused is not sufficient to uphold a conviction under the CNSA for drug trafficking.
The accused were convicted of possession of narcotics and sentenced to death under CNSA 9(c). The Lahore High Court commuted the death sentence to 14 years’ imprisonment.
Police discovered large quantities of Charas and opium in a parked vehicle with two flat tyres.
The complainant was a police officer, who received a report that customs officials and police had encountered a vehicle and that shots had been fired by both the occupants of the vehicle and the police/customs officials. The complainant, accompanied by other officers, discovered a vehicle matching the description with two flat tyres, which contained large quantities of Charas and opium. The accused were arrested because they had Kalashnikovs and spare magazines with live rounds, which was said conclusively to prove that they were members of a criminal enterprise involved in the trafficking of narcotics. The accused denied their involvement, and were not seen in the vehicle nor running away from it. Though the vehicle was stopped at 2:00 pm, the accused were apprehended less than 100 yards away at 4:45 pm. The Supreme Court considered it unbelievable that, in a timespan of nearly three hours, the occupants of the vehicle would have remained nearby, waiting to be apprehended. The Court stated that due to “mere apprehension of the two appellants with two Kalashnikovs but in the absence of any connecting evidence that they were either seen while sitting in the vehicle or running away nor any documentary evidence to connect the two appellants with the vehicle in question, the appellants would be entitled to benefit of doubt”. Both accused were acquitted.
