LONDON: A renowned British Pakistani businessman from Lahore has denied all charges against him, stating that he is being punished for a mistaken identity and that he does not lead a global drug production network.
Mohammed Asif Hafeez, 58, also referred to as the “Sultan” of drugs in court papers, told the court that he was arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in August as part of a plan and that deporting him to the United States to face charges will be equal to breaching his human rights.
Earlier, Asif Hafeez appeared before the Westminster Magistrate’s Court via video link from prison and denied that he is head of global drug production network that has links across Asia, Europe and North America. The network is known to have smuggled drugs including heroin, methamphetamine, or crystal meth, and ephedrine around the world.
His eldest son Muhammad Tauseef Asif, has collected a team of around two dozen lawyers from Pakistan, Mozambique, India and America to defend his father against the charges. His defence is that his father has never been a part of any illegal activity and has no previous convictions in “any jurisdiction in the world”.
Asif has also asserted that the case is bogus and that there is no evidence of the allegation that his father was responsible for the smuggling of large quantities heroin into Kenya from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Among the allegations against Hafeez is one that he headed an international network involved in manufacturing and distributing large quantities of narcotics and that he agreed to import narcotics, including heroin and methamphetamine, into the US, dating back to at least 2013.
Hafeez leads a glamorous lifestyle in Britain and is frequently seen with Prince William and Prince Harry, being involved in many of the charities that the royal family supports. It’s also known that he is a close friend of Shahrukh Khan’s.
According to the US, Hafeez conspired with an African crime family called the Akasha Organisation, setting up a special laboratory for dugs in Mozambique. He is also accused of running a factory in India in order to manufacture a drug agent ephedrine, and then smuggling it to Mozambique.
The US prosecution claims that the DEA launched a secret operation in 2014 against the Sultan-Akasha network and many of the details about this network had been discovered by them during that time.
According to the US undercover agents the heroin was known as the ‘Sultan’s drugs’ and that they had a Skype video of Hafeez that they had secretly recorded, to prove that.
Hafeez Ali denies all charges.
