RAWALPINDI - An anti-narcotics court provided the copies of challan submitted by Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) to six accused including former MNA of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and owner of a pharmaceutical company, Muhammad Hanif Abbasi, in ephedrine smuggling case.
The other five accused include Ghazanfar Ali, Muhammad Nasir Khan, Rana Mohsin Khurshid, Siraj Ahmed Abbasi, and Nazakat Khan. However, the court could not frame the charges against the accused and adjourned the hearing till September 2, 2013 to indict the accused formally in ephedrine case.
When CNSC Special Judge Arshad Mehmood Tabbasum took up the case on Friday, Hanif Abbasi appeared before the court for the first time. The court showed its resentment over ANF investigators for not submitting the challans against two accused Muhammad Basit Abbasi, the brother of Muhammad Hanif Abbasi, and Ahmed Bilal Adil.
Malik Ghulam Mustafa Kandwal, representing Muhammad Hanif Abbasi, told media men outside the court that he would file a petition with the CNSC pleading that Section 9-C of the Control of Narcotics Substances Act could not be inserted in the case.
He said that in November 2012, Hanif Abbasi obtained bail from the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench, which had observed that Section 9-C had not been attracted in the said case.
Meanwhile, the court extended till September 2, 2013 the interim pre-arrest bails of three accused Khawaja Asad, Salim Akhter and Qazi Abdul Rashid in ephedrine case owing to absence of defence lawyer Sardar Muhammad Ishaq Khan.