LAHORE: A special court (control of narcotics substance) on Saturday allowed an application of interior minister Rana Sanaullah Khan for one-time exemption from personal appearance in a drug recovery case against him.

Khan’s lawyer told the court that the interior minister was busy in Islamabad due to the law and order situation. He asked the court to allow the application of Khan for one-time exemption.

The court allowed the application and adjourned the further hearing till Dec 3.

The Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) had arrested Khan on July 1, 2019 and claimed to have recovered 15kg heroin from his vehicle. The FIR [first information report] was lodged under section 9 (C) of Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997.

He was twice denied bail by the trial court and finally the Lahore High Court released him on Dec 24, 2019. Other suspects include Sibtain Haider, Usman Ahmad and Muhammad Akram.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2022