LHC grants bail to Rana Sanaullah in narcotics case

Justice Ahmad orders submitting two surety bonds worth Rs1m each

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday granted bail to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Punjab President Rana Sanaullah in a drugs case filed by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF).

The single bench – comprising Justice Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmad – announced the verdict, which had been reserved after hearing detailed arguments of the parties on Monday.

Justice Ahmad ordered the accused to submit two surety bonds worth Rs1 million each to secure his release.

Sanaullah, who served as the Punjab law minister during the previous PML-N government and known for his tough talk, was arrested by the ANF on July 1 from the Islamabad-Lahore motorway near Sukheki.

The ANF claimed to have recovered 15 kilogrammes of heroin and other drugs from his possession in the operation conducted on a tip-off. At least five people, including the driver and the security guard, were also nabbed.

The PML-N leader had been in detention of the ANF for over six months.

Sanaullah, through his petition, pleaded the court for grant of post-arrest bail, alleging that he was implicated in a fake case. He submitted that the FIR of the incident was registered under 9-C, 15 and 17 of the Control of Narcotics Substances Act with a delay, which made it dubious.

An anti-narcotics special court had twice rejected bail petition filed by the PML-N leader earlier.Submitting challan

Talking to the media-persons after attending a ceremony to dispose of 640kg of narcotics, ANF Director General Major General Arif Malik accused the counsels for Sanaullah of using delaying tactics by boycotting the hearings, saying until the accused is indicted, challan cannot be submitted.

“The ANF challan is complete. As soon as the accused is indicted, the challan will be submitted in court,” said the ANF DG.