Ephedrine quota case: Nine suspects sent on 3-day remand

RAWALPINDI: A court on Friday sent nine accused of the ephedrine quota case on remand after the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench cancelled their bails. The Anti-Narcotic Force produced the accused in the anti-narcotic court of Judge Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam who sent them on a three-day remand. The accused included Basit Abbasi, the brother of former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Member National Assembly Hanif Abbasi and Ahmad Bilal along with Muhammad Asif, Hamid Raza, Muhammad Raffique, Rashid Mehmood and Muhammad Nadeem, Abuzar Faizi and Sirajuddin. One of the accused, Col (retd) Tahir Mehmood Lahoti, who did not appear before the court at the previous hearing on Thursday due to illness, is at large after the cancellation of bail. An ANF official said raids are being conducted for his arrest. The accused will now be produced before the court on Monday.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2013.