Evidence establishing guilt in ephedrine case obtained. PHOTO: FILE
The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on Saturday filed an application with Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench for cancellation of bail given to former lawmaker Hanif Abbasi in the ephedrine quota case.
The court set October 22 for hearing the application filed by ANF. In their application, ANF investigators apprised the court that it has substantial evidence against the involvement of PML-N’s Abbasi in the ephedrine smuggling case. It was also mentioned in the application that the court should cancel Abbasi’s bail so the ANF can arrest him for further investigations. An ANF investigator, asking not to be named, told The Express Tribune that the ANF has got substantial evidence for proving Abbasi’s guilt in the case. He said ANF had earlier gone to the Supreme Court for cancellation of bail but the apex court asked the investigators to appear before the LHC once they had solid evidence. He said at the time of granting bail to Abbasi, the two-member LHC bench had also remarked that the ANF could come to court for cancellation of bail if it had sufficient evidence against the former lawmaker. “Now, we have enough evidence to get his bail cancelled,” he said.
LHC had granted bail to Abbasi on November 1, 2012 after he deposited two separate surety bonds of Rs500,000.
Abbasi is accused of misusing 500kg of the controlled chemical ephedrine which he obtained in 2010 for his pharmaceutical company. Instead of using it to manufacture medicines, he allegedly sold it to narcotics smugglers.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2013.
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