Sanaullah sent on 14-day judicial remand for drug possession in Pak

Firebrand PML-N parliamentarian Rana Sanaullah was sent on a 14-day judicial remand by a court on Tuesday, a day after he was arrested for allegedly possessing huge amount of narcotics in his vehicle, according to media reports.

Sanaullah, the chief of the Punjab unit of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), is one of the biggest critics of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He had called Khan an "addict" and demanded search of his Islamabad house to find narcotics.

He was arrested on Monday by Pakistani authorities and sent to jail on a Tuesday on 14-day judicial remand by a district court in Lahore, Dawn reported.

According to Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) officials presented the PML-N leader and five other suspects Akram, Omer Farooq, Amir Rustum, Usman Ahmed and Sibtain Khan before judicial magistrate Ahmad Waqas.

All six suspects were sent to jail on judicial remand. Following his arrest, Sanaullah was shifted to Lahore's Camp Jail, the report said.

The district judge further ordered the ANF team to produce Sanaullah before the court on July 16.

The PML-N leader's lawyer said that the ANF had arrested Sanaullah after making a political case.

On Monday, Sanaullah, who served as the Punjab law minister during the former PML-N government, was arrested in what is said to be a narcotics case involving proscribed outfits.

The PML-N termed the government's move to be "worst example of political victimisation" and warned that such tactics to push the opposition against the wall would backfire.

PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif has called a party meeting in Lahore on Tuesday to discuss Sanaullah's arrest.

In a video message, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the ANF had detained Sanaullah on "authentic information" that the PML-N leader's vehicle contained drugs worth Rs150 million to Rs200 million, Radio Pakistan reported.

Awan was quoted as saying that no one was beyond the Constitution and law in Naya Pakistan, adding that the ANF was an "independent institution and there is no link of government interest in this detention".

As per Radio Pakistan, the PTI leader added that the PML-N wanted to use Sanaullah's arrest for "political point scoring".

Sanaullah was elected Member of the National Assembly from Faisalabad in July 2018 general elections.

He was appointed as the PML-N Punjab President in May.