LAHORE: The prime witnesses and officers of the Anti-Narcotics Force retracted their statements on Saturday, after which a special court (the Control of Narcotics Substance) acquitted Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan in a 21-kg heroin smuggling case.
The two officials, who were made recovery witnesses in this case by the prosecution, including the force’s Assistant Director Imtiaz Ahmed Cheema and Inspector Ehsaan Azam, appeared before the court.
Both recorded their statements before the court, saying that they were present at the Ravi Toll Plaza on July 1, 2019, when Sanaullah was arrested. They stated that they never saw any sort of drug being recovered from the custody of Rana Sana and others. They dismissed the charges against Sanaullah, declaring them wrong. They also claimed that they were made witnesses in this case without their knowledge and that they could not support the case made by the prosecution.
The ANF’s Assistant Director Imtiaz and Inspector Ihsan both submitted identical handwritten statements with the same handwriting and content before the court.
The prosecutor of the case, Ehteshamul Haq, said in his statement that he doesn’t want to produce a third recovery witness, ANF inspector Nauman Ghous, as he was also not willing to support the prosecution’s case.
It is pertinent to mention that earlier in the day, Rana had moved his acquittal application before the court, saying that the prosecution failed to bring any evidence in the case because it was a politically-motivated case. After the submission of his application, ANF’s witnesses appeared and recanted their statements.
After this, the court acquitted Rana Sana and six other accused, stating that after the negative statements of recovery witnesses, the case had been technically knocked out.
The court said that it would be a futile exercise to proceed further with the case and record formal witnesses.
Judge Muhammad Naeem Sheikh concluded that the court had no choice but to accept the accused’s acquittal application.
The ANF arrested Rana Sana on July 1, 2019, and claimed to have recovered 15 kgs of heroin from his vehicle. The FIR was lodged under Section 9 (C) of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997. He was twice denied bail by the trial court and, finally, the Lahore High Court released him on December 24, 2019.
The other suspects include Sibtain Haider, Usman Ahmad, and Muhammad Akram.
