# Police say they found charas in your car. Is it over? > Not automatically. In a charas case (a "9c case" under the Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997) the prosecution must prove every step from the recovery to the laboratory. In May 2024 the Supreme Court acquitted two men serving ten years because that chain was not proved (2024 SCMR 1408). - Topic: Criminal law - Court: Supreme Court of Pakistan - Citation: 2024 SCMR 1408 - The myth: "If police say they found charas in your car, it's over: a sealed parcel means ten years in jail." Verdict: Wrong. - Watch: https://failegal.site/media/charas-case-pakistan-9c-chain-of-custody-2024-scmr-1408 (video https://failegal.site/media/charas-case-pakistan-9c-chain-of-custody-2024-scmr-1408/reel.mp4, 1:22) - Published by FAI Legal on 2026-10-30 The Court's rule: "This chain has to be established by the prosecution and if any link is missing, the benefit of the same has to be extended to the accused" (para 4). Here the samples went to the laboratory four days after the seizure with no explanation, against a 72-hour rule (paras 6 and 8), and the police station's store-room register had no date for them (para 10). ## Key points - The prosecution must prove each step: the recovery, making the sample parcels, keeping them safe and sending them safely to the laboratory (para 4). - Rule 4(2) of the Control of Narcotic Substances (Government Analysts) Rules 2001 says samples go to the laboratory at the earliest and within 72 hours of the seizure (para 6). - Here the parcels were handed over for the laboratory four days later with no explanation, and Register No. XIX, the store-room register, had no date for them (paras 8 and 10). - A delay alone does not always end a case: the Supreme Court has held the 2001 Rules directory, so the question is whether the whole chain is proved and the gaps explained (2022 SCMR 905, para 7). - In 2025 the Court said it again: the prosecution must show an unbroken, secure and reliable chain of custody (2025 SCMR 1644, para 5). ## Police say they found charas: is it over? The short answer No, not automatically. A charas case is usually filed under section 9 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997; people call it a "9c case" after clause (c) of the old section 9. In 2024 SCMR 1408, decided on 31 May 2024, the Supreme Court acquitted two men whom the trial court had sentenced to ten years, because the prosecution did not prove the chain from the road to the laboratory (paras 4 to 12). This is a fair-trial rule, not a loophole. When the police and the prosecution prove every step, a conviction can stand; when a link is missing and nobody explains it, the doubt goes to the accused (para 4). ## Jhelum, 2021: what happened On 27 May 2021 police checking vehicles at Bandi toll plaza in Jhelum chased and stopped a car. They said they found seven packets of charas, about a kilogram each, wrapped in cloth around the bodies of the driver and the man beside him. Seven samples of 51 grams were taken for the laboratory (paras 1 and 3). On 15 February 2023 the Special Court in Jhelum sentenced both men to ten years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 each under section 9(c) read with section 15 of the Act. The Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, dismissed their appeal on 29 November 2023 (paras 1 and 2). ## What the Supreme Court decided in May 2024 A bench of Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Naeem Akhtar Afghan, JJ converted the petition into an appeal and acquitted both men by a short order on 22 May 2024; the reasons, by Naeem Akhtar Afghan, J, are dated 31 May 2024 (para 13). The Court first set the standard: "it is the duty of the prosecution to establish each and every step from the stage of recovery, making of sample parcels, safe custody of sample parcels and safe transmission of the sample parcels to the concerned laboratory" (para 4). It then found the record wanting: "All the above infirmities have created reasonable doubt in the case of prosecution" (para 11), and held that the prosecution failed to prove the charge beyond reasonable doubt; the conviction came from misreading the evidence (para 12). ## The broken links: four days, and no date Rule 4(2) of the 2001 Analysts Rules says "the sample for analysis has to be dispatched to the testing laboratory at the earliest but not later than seventy two hours of the seizure" (para 6). Here the parcels seized on 27 May 2021 were handed over for the laboratory on 31 May 2021, "much beyond seventy two hours of the seizure/in violation of rule 4(2) of the Rules of 2001 for which no plausible explanation has been offered by the prosecution" (para 8). Rule 22.70 of the Police Rules 1934 requires Register No. XIX, the record of every article placed in the police station's store room, the malkhana (para 7). Its entry for these parcels had no date: the Court noted the register "wherein admittedly no date, month and year has been mentioned in the relevant column No.3 pertaining to the case property/sample parcels of the instant case" (para 10). ## Does a late sample always end a charas case? No. In 2022 SCMR 905 the Supreme Court said of the 2001 Rules: "These Rules are stricto sensu directory and not mandatory in any manner" (para 7). A lapse in following the Rules does not automatically throw out a case; the Court looks at the whole chain and whether the gaps are explained. In that case leave was refused and the conviction stood. What decides it is proof of the chain. In 2025 SCMR 1644 the Supreme Court acquitted a man sentenced to nine years for 1,800 grams of ice in Quetta, holding that "the prosecution must establish an unbroken, secure, and reliable chain of custody of the recovered contraband from the point of seizure to its receipt at the forensic laboratory" (para 5). ## What to do if police say they found drugs in your car Stay calm and do not resist. Note the date, time and place, who was there and what was written down. A person who is arrested may not be denied the right to consult and be defended by a lawyer of his choice (Constitution, Article 10(1)), so contact a lawyer as soon as you can. In court your lawyer can test each step: how the parcels were sealed, the store-room register, when the samples were sent and who carried them, and the laboratory report (2024 SCMR 1408, paras 4 to 10). If the police case is true and every step is proved, the law is strict: section 9 of the Act sets heavy minimum sentences by drug and quantity. This ruling protects a fair trial; it does not make a properly proved drugs case go away. ## For law students and lawyers The judgment applies a settled line: Javed Iqbal v. The State (2023 SCMR 139), Mst. Sakina Ramzan v. The State (2021 SCMR 451) and Qaiser Khan v. The State (2021 SCMR 363) on the chain (para 4), and Abdul Ghafoor v. The State (2022 SCMR 819), Khair ul Bashar v. The State (2019 SCMR 930) and others on producing the witness who carried the samples (para 5). Read it with 2022 SCMR 905 (the 2001 Rules are directory, para 7) and 2025 SCMR 1644 (an unbroken, secure and reliable chain of custody, para 5). Together they say: the 72-hour rule is a strong marker, but the test is whether the prosecution proves safe custody and safe transmission at every stage. ## The case at a glance - **Facts:** Police at Bandi toll plaza, Jhelum, said they found seven packets of charas, about 7 kilograms, on two men in a car on 27 May 2021. The trial court gave each ten years (15 February 2023); the Lahore High Court upheld it (29 November 2023). - **The question:** Did the prosecution prove the safe custody and safe transmission of the samples from the recovery to the laboratory? - **What the Court held:** No. Petition converted into an appeal and allowed; both acquitted (short order 22 May 2024, reasons 31 May 2024). The samples were sent four days after the seizure with no explanation and the store-room register had no date, which created reasonable doubt. - **Why:** Each step from recovery to the laboratory must be proved and a missing link benefits the accused (para 4); Rule 4(2)'s 72 hours (para 6); the unexplained delay (para 8); the undated Register No. XIX (para 10); reasonable doubt (paras 11 and 12). - **Limits:** The 2001 Rules are directory (2022 SCMR 905): a delay alone does not automatically end a case. Each case turns on the evidence of the whole chain. ## The law it relies on - **Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997, Section 9:** Punishment for narcotics offences by drug and quantity. Since 2022 (Act XX of 2022) it is a table with minimum and maximum terms; for charas, from up to five years (under 500 grams) to at least twenty years and up to life (10 kilograms or more). - **Control of Narcotic Substances (Government Analysts) Rules, 2001, Rule 4(2):** The sample "has to be dispatched to the testing laboratory at the earliest but not later than seventy two hours of the seizure", as the Supreme Court read it in 2024 SCMR 1408, para 6. - **Police Rules, 1934, Rule 22.70:** Register No. XIX: every article placed in the police station's store room (malkhana) is entered, and its removal noted (2024 SCMR 1408, para 7). - **Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, Article 10(1):** No person who is arrested shall be detained without being told the grounds, "nor shall he be denied the right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice". ## What this does not mean - It does not mean a late sample always ends a case. The Supreme Court has held the 2001 Rules directory; the question is whether the whole chain is proved and the gaps explained (2022 SCMR 905, para 7). - It does not decide that nothing was found. The Court held that the charge was not proved beyond reasonable doubt (paras 11 and 12). - It does not help anyone escape a properly proved case. Where every step is proved, the heavy sentences in section 9 apply. - It does not decide whether a police search of a car was lawful; that question was not before the Court. ## Questions people ask ### What is a 9c case in Pakistan? A narcotics case under section 9 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997, named after clause (c) of the old section 9, which covered larger quantities. Since 2022 section 9 is a table: the punishment depends on the drug and the quantity. ### What is the punishment for a charas case in Pakistan? Under section 9 as amended in 2022, charas carries from up to five years (under 500 grams) to at least twenty years and up to life (10 kilograms or more), with fines. A sentence depends on the quantity proved and the law in force on the date of the offence. ### Which 9c case laws are about the chain of custody? 2024 SCMR 1408 (samples sent late, register undated: acquitted), 2025 SCMR 1644 (an unbroken, secure and reliable chain of custody: acquitted) and 2022 SCMR 905 (the 2001 Rules are directory: a lapse alone does not end a case). You can search all three on FAI Legal's Judgment Search. ### Within how many hours must a narcotics sample reach the laboratory? Rule 4(2) of the 2001 Analysts Rules says it must be dispatched at the earliest and not later than 72 hours of the seizure (2024 SCMR 1408, para 6). A delay must be explained; a delay alone may not end a case (2022 SCMR 905, para 7). ### Charas ka case ho jaye to kya hota hai? Police aur istaghasa ko har qadam sabit karna hota hai: baramadgi, seal, malkhana register aur sample ka lab tak pohanchna. 2024 SCMR 1408 mein sample chaar din baad lab gaye aur register mein tareekh nahin thi, is liye Supreme Court ne dono ko bari kar diya. Foran wakeel se rabta karein. ### 9c case kya hota hai? Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997 ki section 9 ke tehat manshiyat (charas, heroin, ice) ka case. Saza manshiyat ki qisam aur miqdaar par hoti hai. ## Sources - Asif Ali and another v. The State, 2024 SCMR 1408, Supreme Court of Pakistan, 31 May 2024 (short order 22 May 2024), paras 1 to 13. The prosecution must prove every step from recovery to the laboratory; a missing link benefits the accused. Samples sent four days late with no explanation and an undated store-room register: both acquitted. (verified against full text) - Zakir Ali v. The State, 2025 SCMR 1644, Supreme Court of Pakistan, 24 April 2025, paras 2 to 5. An unbroken, secure and reliable chain of custody from seizure to the laboratory must be proved; acquitted. (verified against full text) - Faisal Shahzad v. The State, 2022 SCMR 905, Supreme Court of Pakistan, 14 March 2022, paras 7. The 2001 Analysts Rules are directory; a lapse does not automatically discard the prosecution case (leave refused). (verified against full text) - Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997, Section 9 (text checked in FAI Statute Search, 30 October 2026) - Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, Article 10 (text checked in FAI Statute Search, 30 October 2026) ## What the reel says The police stop your car and say: we found charas. Is it over? What must the police prove in a charas case (9c case) in Pakistan? People say: a sealed parcel means ten years in jail. Wrong. Jhelum, 2021: police stopped a car at a toll plaza and said they found seven packets of charas on two men. The trial court gave them ten years; the High Court agreed. In May 2024 the Supreme Court said the prosecution must prove every step, from the road to the lab, and "if any link is missing, the benefit of the same has to be extended to the accused". Here the samples went to the lab four days later with no reason given (the rule: 72 hours), and the police station's register had no date for them. Both acquitted (2024 SCMR 1408). To be fair: a delay alone may not end a case (2022 SCMR 905), but every gap must be explained. What to do: 1. Stay calm; note the date, time and place. 2. Call a lawyer: it is your constitutional right (Article 10(1)). 3. Have your lawyer check the seal, the register and the lab dates. --- Educational legal information, not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts. Speak to a lawyer about your own matter. Last checked: 30 October 2026. Review status: Pending advocate review. 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