ALI MUHAMMAD and others vs THE STATE
This petition for leave to appeal arose from an order of the Sindh High Court, which had refused to grant post-arrest bail to the petitioners. The petitioners were accused in a criminal case involving the smuggling of contraband goods, including silver ingots and electronic appliances, valued at approximately one crore rupees, which were seized from a launch intercepted by customs officials. The core legal question before the Supreme Court was whether the High Court's refusal to grant bail was justified given the circumstances of the arrest and the nature of the offence. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's decision, noting that the petitioners were caught red-handed while transporting smuggled goods and had attempted to flee upon encountering the customs party, indicating a guilty conscience. The Court held that there was no justification in law or fact to interfere with the High Court's order, as the offence was non-bailable and the evidence suggested prima facie involvement. Consequently, the petition for leave to appeal was dismissed, affirming the denial of bail at the pre-trial stage.
- Whether the High Court's refusal to grant bail to accused persons caught red-handed with smuggled goods is legally justified?
- Does an attempt to flee from customs authorities constitute sufficient grounds to deny bail in a smuggling case?
- Section 2(s), Customs Act 1969
- Section 156(1)(8), Customs Act 1969
1. ' ABDUL KADIR SHAIKH, J.---This is a petition for leave to appeal from the order of a learned Judge of Sindh High Court dated 11-3-1990 refusing to grant bail to petitioners who are accused in a case under section 2(s) read with clause (8) of subsection (1) of section 156 of the Customs Act.
2. ' Facts of the case according to the prosecution are that a launch named, Al-Ghulam Nabi, bearing No,6574-B carrying huge quantities of contraband goods, such as 30 bundles of Silver ingots, 211 VCRs, 439 VCPs, 956 KGs of Silver and other merchandise of foreign origin was intercepted by the Preventive Officer, Customs on 30-1-1989 and the petitioners and other crew members were arrested. Petitioner's request for bail was rejected by the Special Judge (Customs and Taxation)
3. Karachi, and the learned Judge in the High Court also refused the request for these reasons:- "I have considered the contention of the learned counsel (for the petitioners). The F.I.R. Clearly shows that the applicants were caught red-handed while bringing the smuggled articles into Pakistan, the value of which has been assessed at Rs,1,00,00,000 (Rupees one crore only).
4. According to the prosecution the launch was meant for fishing and the fact that it went to Dubai side and brought the smuggled goods clearly shows that the applicants were party to the smuggling of the said articles. The fact that on seeing the customs party the applicants tried to escape alongwith the launch goes a long way to show that they were with guilty conscience. The offence is punishable with 10 years. The incident is recent one and the case has not yet proceeded.
5. I am, therefore, of the considered view that it cannot said at this stage that the applicants have not committed a non-bailable offence. No case for bail is made out, the application is accordingly dismissed."
6. ' After having heard the learned counsel in support' of the petition in the light of the record before us we find no justification in law or in facts for interference with the view that has prevailed with the learned Judge.
7. ' The petition is, therefore, dismissed.