Earlier, a senior official of the health department was arrested in connection with illegal allocation and manipulation of quota to import a chemical involving Rs7 billion.
The Anti-Narcotics Force arrested Deputy Director Drugs Abdul Sattar Mirani late on Wednesday night.
The scam came to the fore last week when ANF officials informed a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry that the quota of the chemical “ephedrine” worth Rs7 billion was given to two Multan-based companies through manipulation on the pressure of a VVIP personality.
The case regarding the illegal sale of ephedrine was registered on October 10 last year, after two pharmaceutical companies — Danas Pharmaceutical Limited and Berlex Lab International –were accused of obtaining export quotas for the drug in collusion with the health ministry officials that exceeded the limits fixed by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).
The INCB had fixed an annual quota of 22,000kg of ephedrine for Pakistan for 2010-11, but the ministry of health following its devolution allocated a quota of around 31,000kg of the drug.
According to the investigation agency’s report, both companies obtained quotas for the drug illegally and then sold it to local manufacturers in violation of the rules.
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