Karachi court sentences six Iranian nationals to life in prison in drug trafficking case

A court in Karachi has handed down life sentences to eight individuals, including six Iranian nationals, in connection with a massive drug trafficking case involving more than 600 kilogrammes of illegal narcotics.

The judge found Iranians l, Younus Chattar Zari, Abdul Samad, Khurshid, Musadiq Raeesi, Saleh Raeesi, and Zubair Baloch, along with Seychellois national Alex Ecinne Zelime and Mohammad Munsif — guilty of smuggling 578 kilogrammes of heroin and 56 kilogrammes of methamphetamine. The seized drugs, found on board a fishing vessel in March 2022, were valued at over Rs6 billion.

As part of the sentencing, the court imposed a fine of Rs1 million on each of the convicts. Failure to pay the fine will result in an additional two years of imprisonment. The judgment follows a coordinated operation led by the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) and Pakistan Customs, based on intelligence inputs.

Special Public Prosecutor Firdous Faridi told the court that on March 4, 2022, the agencies intercepted a fishing dhow in the Arabian Sea near Gwadar. The vessel was manned by eight crew members — the now-convicted individuals — and was found to be carrying a significant quantity of narcotics concealed in polypropylene bags in the lower compartments of the boat.

Authorities discovered 15 bags containing heroin and two bags filled with methamphetamine. The prosecution maintained that the narcotics were being shipped to Seychelles on the orders of an Iranian drug trafficker identified as Haji Raheem. It was further revealed that a Seychellois national, named Nigera, had allegedly been summoned to Iran to assist in coordinating the transportation of the illicit cargo.