Court acquits three of drug trafficking charges.

LAHORE -- A special court for control of narcotics substance has acquitted three suspectsforlack of evidence, in a 48kg drug recovery case registered by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF).

The ANF had arrested Umar Hayat, Shabbir Ahmad and Muhammad Abbas on charges of smuggling narcotics from Peshawar to Lahore. The force claimed to have recovered 36kg hashish and 12kg opium from their custody.

Advocate Akhtar Mahmood Dhillon, the counsel for the suspects, argued before the court that the ANF arrested Abbas from Arifwala and concocted a story regarding his involvement in the case after arresting the two other suspects.

He said mobile phones record confirmed the presence of Abbas and a prosecution witness, a subinspector, in Arifwala.

He said, as per the FIR,Hayat and Ahmad were first arrested from motorway near Thokar Niaz Beg at 1pm, whereas the mobile phone record of one of the raiding team`s members showed his location in Arifwala during the same period of time.

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