ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request filed by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) to add the names of Ali Musa Gilani and 13 other suspects to the Exit Control List (ECL) in the ephedrine quota case, DawnNews reported.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was hearing the case on Wednesday, during which the ANF submitted its request to add names of 14 suspects to the ECL.

Rejecting the request, Chief Justice Iftikhar remarked that the matter of addition of names to the exit control list should be brought up in a trial court of a high court.

Earlier during the hearing, the apex court expressed its displeasure over the absence of Interior Secretary Khawaja Siddiq Akbar from the hearing.

Akbar had first been summoned by the court after Muhammad Tanvir, a senior official of the government’s drug regulatory body, was made a party in the case.

Tanvir had accused Akbar of threatening him to exonerate former health secretary Khushnood Akhtar Lashari from the ephedrine drug scam, or face consequences.

On Aug 6, Akbar appeared before the bench and informed it of the reasons for his absence during previous hearings. Akbar also denied Tanvir’s accusations of threatening the senior official, upon which the court asked him to submit a written reply on the matter.