Ephedrine case: ANF terms Shahabuddin, Ali Musa as primary accused

The Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) submitted its final report on the Ephedrine Quota Case, in which it declared Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Ali Musa Gilani and seven others as principal accused whereas principal secretary of former prime minister was declared a proclaimed offender.
Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) judge Arshad Mehmood Tabassum heard the case, during the course of which investigating officer of the case Abid Zulfiqar presented a report comprising 4,000 pages.
Federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin, son of former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani, MNA Ali Musa Gillani, Col (r) Tahir Lahoti, Ansar Farooq, Ansaar Ahmed, Asad Hafeez, Abdul Sattar Sorani, Iftikhar Ahmed Babar and Abdul Khaliq have been termed as the main accused.
Former principal secretary of prime minister Khushnood Lashari, Tauqir Ali Khan and Anjum Shah have been declared as proclaimed offenders.
Former Health director general Dr Rasheed Juma and Danas Pharmaceutical director Rizwan Ahmed Khan have been declared approvers of the ephedrine quota. Four of the alleged offenders have been declared as secondary accused, which gives the court discretion to indict or acquit Hashim Khan, Ahsanur Rehman, Chaudary Waheed and Tanveer Sherazi.
According to the final report, the accused were involved in illegal allocation of 9,500 kg ephedrine to two pharmaceutical companies—Berlex and Danas—who allegedly smuggled it abroad. Under the law, the investigation agency was bound to submit the report of the case within 14 days after registration of the FIR but it took ANF more than one and a half to come up with one. The case was registered with the ANF directorate, Rawalpindi, on October 10, 2011. On Friday, Makhdoom Shahabuddin filed an application before the court in which he pleaded that he will be contesting elections and would be involved in campaigning, and therefore requested exemption from appearing in court. Lawyers of accused requested the court to provide them with copies of the final report and copies of ANF’s application regarding frozen accounts of their clients. The court accepted the application of Shahabuddin and issued notices to ANF. It also directed the prosecution to submit a reply. The hearing was adjourned until April 20.