Islamabad (July 22, 2018): Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi gets life term in Ephedrine case.
The Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) court on Saturday, while announcing its verdict in the ephedrine quota case, handed life imprisonment to PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi.
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Abbasi was taken into custody from the courtroom after the judge announced the verdict. The supporters of PML-N leader did try to hinder Abbasi’s arrest and offered some resistance.
The PML-N leader will not be able to contest the upcoming general elections following the narcotics court’s decision.
Abbasi, who is contesting the upcoming election from NA-60 Rawalpindi, faced charges of misusing 500kg of the controlled chemical ephedrine, which he obtained for his company, Gray Pharmaceutical, in 2010.
The court, in its verdict announced after 6 years, ruled that nearly 363 kilograms of ephedrine was rightly used. It said that Abbasi failed to provide evidence of the use of the remaining quantity of the drug.
The ephedrine case surfaced in March 2011 when the then federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin told the National Assembly that the government would investigate the alleged allocation of 9,000 kilogrammes of ephedrine to two pharmaceutical companies — Berlex Lab International and Danas Pharmaceutical Limited.
According to the rules, a company cannot be allocated more than 500kg of the drug, a limit fixed by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).
Earlier, security has been put on high alert on the back entrance to the anti-narcotics court. An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is also present on the spot. Personnel of the Anti-Narcotics Force and police have closed the way leading out of the court.
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Earlier, a Control of Narcotics Substances Court (CNSC), Rawalpindi, judge Muhammad Akram Khan reserved judgment in ephedrine case against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Hanif Abbasi.
The decision was reserved after his lawyer completed arguments in the court where the accused was also present. The judge said he would pronounced the judgement within the next three to four hours.
A day earlier, Judge Mohammad Akram Khan rejected Abbasi’s plea to delay the trial’s deadline, noting that it has to follow orders of the Lahore High Court (LHC).
The judge also remarked that he will continue hearing arguments into the night if it takes that long.
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On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had dismissed Abbasi’s petition against the LHC order directing to conclude the ephedrine case against him by July 21.
On July 11, the LHC Rawalpindi Bench, deciding on a plea filed by Shahid Orakzai, had ordered that the trial be conducted daily from July 16 onwards and concluded on July 21.
Abbasi, who is contesting the upcoming election from NA-60, Rawalpindi, faces charges of misusing 500kg of the controlled chemical ephedrine which he obtained for his company, Gray Pharmaceutical, in 2010.
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The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had registered a case against Abbasi and his accomplices in June 2012 under various sections of the Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) Act.
ANF officials claim the substance was sold by Abbasi to narcotics smugglers who used it to make ‘party drugs’.
The trial has been ongoing in a CNS Court in Rawalpindi.
Abbasi and the other accused, including his brother, were indicted in 2014 by the CNS Court.
Abbasi, a former MNA from Rawalpindi, is expected to have a tough electoral contest on July 25 with Sheikh Rasheed — who is allied with PML-N’s chief opponent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
Ephedrine Case:
The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had registered a case against Abbasi and his accomplices in June 2012 under various sections of the CNS Act.
ANF officials claim the substance was sold by Abbasi to narcotics smugglers who used it to make ‘party drugs’.
The trial has been ongoing in a Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) Court in Rawalpindi.
Abbasi and the other accused, including his brother, were indicted in 2014 by the CNS Court.
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