RAWALPINDI, Sept 24: The Director General of Anti-Narcotics Force, Maj-Gen Zafar Iqbal, said on Monday that the scope of investigation into the ephedrine case had been expanded to Balochistan to ascertain how the chemical was smuggled to Iran.

“The ANF has got leads in Balochistan in connection with smuggling of ephedrine to Iran and has been

investigating the matter,” he said while talking to reporters.

He said more than 90 people had been interviewed or investigated by the ANF in the case so far.

When asked if ANF officials would be sent to Iran for the investigation, he said: “We will proceed in accordance with the MoUs signed with some countries.”

The director general dispelled a perception that the ANF was an army institution that did not come under civil administrative control.

“The ANF acts under the Ministry of Narcotics Control and among its employees, army and police personnel are equally inducted on deputation for three years through government notification. And it is answerable to the secretary of the ministry that is a purely civilian set-up.”

Maj-Gen Iqbal claimed that there had been no incident of high-handedness by ANF personnel and the force had worked on merit.

“Conviction rate in narcotics smuggling cases has been 90 per cent.”

He said: “MNA Hanif Abbasi’s is a separate case of misuse of quota which is not related to the other accused in the ephedrine scandal.”

He said the investigation covered the companies that had acquired ephedrine quotas, the government figures involved in allocating the quotas and those who had used their influence for the allocation.

When asked about shortage in the market of psychotropic medicines in which ephedrine compound was used, he said the government had issued quota of the compound to pharmaceutical companies.

After the 18th Amendment, a committee of the Drug Regulatory Authority decided about allocation of ephedrine and an ANF representative was among its members, he said. Four meetings of the committee have been held this year.