RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi, was shifted back to Adiala Jail after medical team declared his health condition satisfactory on Sunday.
The medical team carried out a detailed checkup of the ailing PML-N leader in Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) after which he was discharged from the hospital. Hanif remained in the hospital for six days.
Abbasi was shifted to RIC after he complained of a heart-related ailment. He underwent a medical examination at the hospital.
It is pertinent to mention here that PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and his son-in-law Capt (r) Safdar, who have been serving their sentences in Adiala Jail, were also moved to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) after they fell sick in prison.
Last month, the Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) Court of Rawalpindi handed down life term to Abbasi in the case related to misuse of controlled chemical ephedrine.
Abbasi was taken into custody by Anti-Narcotics Force from the courtroom soon after the judgement was announced and subsequently shifted to Adiala Jail. The supporters of PML-N leader did try to hinder Abbasi’s arrest and offered some resistance but to no avail.
The PML-N leader did not contest the general elections following the narcotics court’s decision.
The court, which announced its decision after six years, acquitted seven other accused in the case while giving them the benefit of doubt.
The ephedrine case surfaced in March 2011 when the then federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin told the National Assembly (NA) that the government would investigate the alleged allocation of 9,000 kilogrammes of ephedrine to two pharmaceutical companies — Berlex Lab International and Danas Pharmaceutical Limited.
According to the rules, a company cannot be allocated more than 500kg of the drug, a limit fixed by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).
The PML-N leader was accused of misusing 500kg of the controlled chemical ephedrine, obtaining it in 2010 and selling it to narcotics smugglers.
