Narcotics case: Rana Sanaullah's judicial remand extended till Sept 28

Dunya News

Narcotics case: Rana Sanaullah's judicial remand extended till Sept 28.

LAHORE (Dunya News) – An Anti-Narcotics Court in Lahore Saturday extended judicial remand of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Punjab President and Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Rana Sanaullah till September 28 in a heroin smuggling case.

Rana Sanaullah was produced before duty judge Khalid Bashir along with other suspects. The court ordered the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) to submit notification of prosecutor’s appointment.

ANF lawyer Rana Kashif told the court that Salahuddin Mengal has been appointed as the prosecutor in the case but he could not appear before the court as he underwent an operation and is still admitted to hospital.

The PML-N leader’s counsel took the stance that his client’s bail plea and petition regarding provision of video pertaining to locomotion of Rana Sanaullah’s vehicle are still pending.

Duty judge Khalid Bashir remarked that he is conducting hearings of urgent cases only, to which Rana Sanaullah’s lawyer replied what else can be more important than the PML-N leader’s bail.

On the other hand, Rana Sanaullah said the court is being misled regarding his case, and objected that the video has not been provided about which Minister for Frontier Region and Narcotics Control Shehryar Khan Afridi claimed.


Previous hearings


Due to repatriation of judge Masood Arshad, no proceedings of the case were made in the previous hearing and no progress had been reported on the ANF’s request to freeze the assets of Rana Sanaullah.

On August 24, the PML-N leader’s remand was extended for 14 days. During the hearing, the ANF prosecutor had showed footage of Sanaullah’s arrest from Safe City cameras.


Arrest


On July 1, the PML-N lawmaker was arrested by ANF Lahore team while he was traveling from Faisalabad to Lahore

"The ANF is responsible for curbing drug use and smuggling. We do not make arrests without reason," ANF had said in a statement. "A large quantity of drugs was recovered from Sanaullah’s car.”

Sanaullah was shifted to an ANF police station after his arrest and was charged under the Anti-Narcotics Act.