Shehryar Afridi to take Rana Sanaullah’s case to logical end

Shehryar Afridi, the Minister of State for Narcotics Control, on Wednesday has said that he will pursue the narcotics case against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah to its logical end.

He was addressing a press conference a day after the Lahore High Court granted post-arrest bail to Sanaullah in a 15kg heroin recovery case, lodged by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF).

“The impression is being propagated that Rana Sanaullah has been released but I want to tell the nation that he is still a suspect,” said Afridi.

While commenting on the bail of the former Punjab law minister, Shehryar Afridi said that they will go ‘all-out’ in the matter.

“This is a season of bails,” commented the state minister, while insisting that the ANF is a professional force.

Following Sanaullah’s arrest, the federal minister had repeatedly defended the ANF. He also claimed to have “pictures and video record” and said that the PML-N leader’s car was monitored for three weeks before he was arrested.

All evidence was submitted to the court within 17 days of the arrest,” Afridi said, adding that he had seen the evidence with his own eyes.

Following Sanaullah’s arrest in July, Afridi had said the ANF had “video footage” of the PML-N Punjab president before it moved to arrest him.

“One thing is being connected to me — video, video, video.

“In the first press conference, with the DG ANF […] I referenced some footage. It was presented in a strange way.”

In response to a query over the “footages” in question, Afridi said: “Look at all my press conferences […] wherever I spoke about the videos I said [we have the] footages. In 17 days, all things were provided.”

“The court has not issued the order yet and the legal team would decide about the future strategy,” said Afridi.

A case was filed in accordance with the Control of Narcotics Substances Act, 1997 after a large stash of contraband was allegedly recovered from Sanaullah’s vehicle a few months ago.

The PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah was granted bail after five months and 23 days in custody. The ANF had arrested him on July 1 while he was heading for a meeting from Faisalabad to Lahore.

However, not everyone is satisfied with the comments Shehryar Afridi made at the press conference. Specially his remarks over having a piece of video evidence against Rana Sanaullah.