Pakistan’s ANF arrests 10 suspects in drug smuggling operations
The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) of Pakistan arrested 10 individuals involved in drug smuggling in operations across the country, said a statement.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday handed top-order batsman Sharjeel Khan a five-year ban as he was convicted guilty in the spot-fixing scandal that stained the Pakistan Super League earlier this year.
The 28-year-old cricketer from Sind was held guilty in five charges of breaching PCB’s anti-corruption code.
According to Pakistani media reports, Sharjeel would serve the five-year ban in two phases with two-and-a- half years being a suspended sentence to be served under the board’s observation.
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Having received minimum punishment on all charges, Sharjeel’s lawyer Shaigan Ijaz said they would appeal against the ban.
“We are okay with the decision and like I had said, the PCB was unable to produce sufficient evidence to convince the tribunal that my client did indeed do spot-fixing,” Ijaz said.
Sharjeel, who has played in one Test, 25 ODIs and 25 T20I matches, was hailed as a “Warner” for Pakistan by former head coach, Waqar Younis who said he was very disappointed after learning about Sharjeel’s PSL fixing issue.
The tribunal’s decision comes as a setback for the PCB which had repeatedly claimed to have sufficient evidence against Sharjeel and Khalid Latif in the case.
The PCB had even asked the tribunal for a life ban on the two players. The tribunal will give a verdict on Latif’s case next month after first starting its hearings into the PSL fixing cases in April this year.
With inputs from agencies
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