LAHORE: A special court (control of narcotics substance) on Saturday issued a notice to the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on an application of Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan for unfreezing his assets and bank accounts.

Earlier, Mr Khan appeared before the court along with his counsel Farhad Ali Shah to attend the hearing of the drug recovery case against him.

The counsel argued before the court that the ANF alleged that the suspect had been doing business of drugs for the last 10 years. He said the frozen assets and the bank accounts of the suspect were maintained before the 10 years. He said the suspect had been facing a serious financial problem as he was unable to withdraw his salary from the bank.

The court sought a reply from the ANF on the application of Khan by June 25.

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

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

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2022