Prisoner in withdrawal caught picking up drugs at Malir court

KARACHI:

Police seized hashish from a prisoner who was heading back to jail after his hearing at the Malir court on Saturday.

The prisoner, Waqar*, was later presented before fourth civil judge, Naveed Asghar Shaikh, who inquired about the incident from the official in charge of maintaining security at the court. Police had caught the prisoner after he started behaving suspiciously after meeting some visitors on court premises.

“Visitors use various techniques to transfer drugs to prisoners,” said the security official, Nazar Hussain Awan. “Sometimes they swallow the drugs [which are packed in bags] and pass through security searches.” Visitors then cough out the bags, which they pass on to the prisoners when they meet.

Waqar, a 22-year-old taxi driver, told The Express Tribune that he was a drug user and that he started experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms, including acute pain in the abdomen, while he was in prison. He complained about the health facilities available for prisoners in the jail, and said that medicines prescribed for him by the doctor were ineffective.

According to the counsel for the accused, Abdul Razzaque Mazhar, Waqar was arrested under section 392 of the Pakistan Penal Code in a robbery case. He claimed that Waqar’s only mistake was that his taxi was ahead of a vehicle that was robbed by two men who were riding a motorcycle.

Police booked Waqar for deliberately overtaking the vehicle, so as to give cover to the bandits. FIR no. 394/11 of the incident was lodged at the Sukkan police station, and Waqar was arrested from Quaidabad the very next day.

“He has been in prison for the last nine months,” said Mazhar.

*The prisoner’s identity has been withheld.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2012.