Ephedrine case: Hanif Abbasi granted 6-day interim bail

Hanif Abbasi has granted bail in a case of illegal sale of 500 kilograms of ephedrine to smugglers.

RAWALPINDI:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) here on Thursday granted pre-arrest interim bail to Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) National Assembly member (MNA) Hanif Abbasi till September 12 while hearing a case of the alleged illegal sale of 500 kilograms of ephedrine to smugglers.

Justice Mahmood Maqbool Bajwa and Justice Ali Baqir Najafi of LHC’s Rawalpindi bench directed the MNA to submit two surety bonds, each worth Rs100,000, and asked the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) to share details from their investigation so far with the court at the next hearing.

MNA Abbasi had obtained a protective bail from the Sindh High Court that was due to expire on September 7 (today).

In his bail plea, Abbasi maintained that his company used the 500kg ephedrine quota to manufacture De-ASM 30mg tablets, filing an application with the federal health ministry in June 2010.

The MNA claimed that ANF had the tablets examined by the federal drug laboratory and their report verified that the ephedrine-derived medicine was registered with the health ministry.

ANF Rawalpindi registered an FIR on July 21, accusing Gray’s Pharmaceuticals of obtaining a 500kg ephedrine consignment and selling it off to drug smugglers. The FIR alleged that the company forged sale deeds to show that the tablets manufactured using the ephedrine were sold to different distribution companies.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2012.