Ephedrine scandal: Three-day remand of pharma chiefs

ANF’s request for 10-day remand turned down.

RAWALPINDI:

An Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) court remanded the chief executives of the two pharmaceutical companies in custody for three days on Wednesday.

ANF investigators had sought 10-day physical remand of Ansar Farooq Chaudhry, chief executive of Danas Pharmaceutical Islamabad and Iftikhar Khan Babar, chief executive of Berlex Lab International Multan, in connection with a case involving a 9,500-kilogramme ephedrine consignment.

However, ANF magistrate Shafqatullah granted a three-day remand after the attorneys for the pair contended that ANF investigation was already complete.

The two pharma companies had submitted all documents related to the production of tablets containing ephedrine and its distribution in the open market through licenced distributors.

Meanwhile, Anti-Narcotics Court Special Judge Zaffar Iqbal Chaudhry reserved his order regarding bail pleas by three others accused in the ephedrine case till Thursday.

Former director general health Dr Rasheed Jumma, Berlex Lab International Director Rizwan Khan and Danas Pharmaceutical Director Col (retd) Tahirul Wadood Lahoti had filed applications for pre-arrest bails in the trial court.

Earlier on Wednesday, their lawyers had argued that their case did not fall under narcotics laws and should instead be tried under drug laws.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2012.