Special Court for Narcotics Control on Monday issued arrest warrants for Ali Musa Gilani, son of former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, in ephedrine quota case. A single-member bench comprising Irum Niazi heard the case and summoned Ali Musa on the next hearing scheduled for May 19. Ali Musa Gilani and two other suspects were not present during the hearing on Monday and the judge, hence, ordered to present all suspects including Gilani in front of the court on the next hearing.

Earlier, the court had indicted Ali Musa Gilani, former Health Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin, former Health Secretary Khushnod Lashari, former Director Health General Asad Hafeez, former Deputy Drug Controller Abdul Sattar Shorwani, Sheikh Nusrat, Anjum Shah and others in the case.

In April 2012, Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had submitted a 23-page report before the court formally naming eight accused, including Ali Musa Gilani, for allegedly allocating 6,500-kg of ephedrine to Berlex Lab International, Multan, and 2,500-kg to Danas Pharma (Pvt) Ltd, Islamabad, from 2010 to 2011.

The ANF officials had stated that the accused wanted to export ephedrine to Iraq and Afghanistan whereas 20 other companies were also waiting for allocation of 5,710-kg ephedrine. Ali Musa Gilani was previously arrested by ANF at the gate of the Supreme Court in September 2012 but was granted bail in July 2012 over submitting surety bonds of Rs 100,000. Ephedrine is a medication and stimulant which is used to prevent low blood pressure during spinal anaesthesia. It has also been used for asthma, narcolepsy, and obesity but is not the preferred treatment.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017