1. ' The learned Special Judge, Malir, Karachi, -rejected bail application of applicant on 9-1-1999 mentioning as under:-- "In this case the accused/applicant, alongwith, other three accused namely Agha Muhammad, Aftab and Sikandar Radia had established a fake company under the name of Messrs Amir Enterprises, which has sent 800 Kilograms of Hashish in the bags of leather belt/shoulder badges to Canada. The premises of the company is in the name of accused Saleem and as per the statement of prosecution witnesses Muhammad Bachal Memon, Ansar Ahmed and Miss Nosheen, the accused/applicant Shafi Memon and accused Sikandar Radia had accompanied accused Saleem to the office of Estate Agent P.W. Muhammad Bachal for taking that office on rent. The said consignment was also sent through the agency, which also belonged to accused/applicant Muhammad Shafi. Thus, the accused/applicant has a full role in commission of this offence, such offence is punishable under section 9(c), Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997, for which the punishment provided is death or imprisonment for life. Since there is prima facie case against the accused/ applicant, therefore, his case is hit by section 51(1), Control of Narcotics Substances, Act, 1997, which puts bar for grant of bail in such cases.
2. ' For the above, the applicant/accused is not entitled to grant of bail, hence I reject this bail application."
3. ' Learned Advocate for applicant has requested to bail on the grounds that it is admitted position that the alleged Hashish was recovered in Canada which is not in the jurisdiction of this Court. The property and witnesses of recovery are in Canada. Neither the property nor the witnesses can be brought to testify and identify the property in question before the trial Court. He contended that trial Court has ignored the fact that the applicant is Chief Executive of Messrs Swift Cargo System and booked cargo for all International Airlines of the World, but he had no authority to examine the cargo as the cargo is examined by the Customs on the basis of Shipping Bill presented by approved Customs Clearing Agent. The trial Court also ignored the fact that the applicant is neither exporter nor importer and he is also not a Customs Clearing Agent or Customs Examining Officer. He in no way is responsible for examining the goods. Learned counsel further submitted that the applicant's company only booked the air cargo and thereafter handed over the cargo to concerned authorities, and that the cargo in question was booked in good faith on the basis of Export Documents. He relied on decisions reported in 1998 PCr.LJ 1175, 1993 MLD 317, 1998 SCMR 170, 1998 PCr.LJ 664, 1994 SCMR 1249 and unreported orders of this Court in Criminal Bails Nos.491 of 1998 and 700 of 1998.
4. ' Learned Special prosecutor for A.N.F. Opposed the grant of bail and supported the order of the trial Court. He placed reliance on unreported order of Honourable Supreme Court in Criminal Petition No,53-K of 1998 wherein bail was cancelled by the Supreme Court. - ' We have carefully considered these contentions in the light of the material on record and the case-law cited at the Bar. The consignment was booked from Karachi and at the place of its destination i,e, Canada, it was detected that the consignment contained 800 Kgs. Of Hashish. On 28-101998 F.I.R. Was registered for offences under sections 6, 7, 8 13 and 14 of Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997. The first paragraph of the F.I.R. Is as under:-- "Received a Letter No,XDPL-1788, dated 1-2-1997 from Liaison Office of RCMP Canadian High Commissioner, Islamabad addressed to Directorate A.N.F., Karachi informing that a consignment of 29 boxes of leather belt/shoulder badges exported by Messrs Amir Enterprises, Karachi consigned to Leather Ware House 1089 Laeslir, North York Ontario reached Toronto Airport on 13-11-1997 by Lufthansa Airline. On examination of consignment by Canadian Customs 800 Kgs. Of Hashish was recovered from 26 out of 29 boxes."
5. Para. 2 of the F.I.R. Shows that the inquiry revealed that Messrs Agha Muhammad Aftab, Sikandar, Radia and Muhammad Shafi established a fake firm in the name of Messrs Amir Enterprises from where 30 boxes of consignment were booked through Muhammad Shafi, Proprietor of Messrs Swift Cargo. Muhammad Shafi is, therefore, shown to be a partner of fake firm as well as Proprietor of Messrs Swift Cargo. The argument of learned Advocate for the applicant that applicant's company only booked the air cargo and the cargo in question was booked in good faith stands rebutted by prosecution case that he was a partner of fake firm Messrs Amir Enterprises which had booked the said cargo. Obviously, in these circumstances, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the applicant is connected with the alleged offence. The offence is punishable with death and the provision of section 51(1) of the Control of Narcotics Substances Act, 1997 restricts the powers of Court to grant bail in such cases. The authorities cited by the learned counsel for applicant are not applicable to the instant case in view of different set of facts. The bail application is, therefore, rejected.