LAHORE: Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has said that the Sharif family patronized every mafia in Pakistan.

Addressing a press conference at DGPR on Saturday, Dr Firdous said that ‘Kaneez Mafia’ is attached to PML-N like political parasites. She said the PML-N associates following in the footsteps of their leader built huge palaces. “There was no need to set up a commission if the government was a beneficiary of Broadsheet,” she stated.

The special assistant said that all crimes lead to Jati Umrah, adding that the past government patronized drug peddlers and traffickers with the support police. She said Ata Mohsin Shah, son of former PML-N MNA Iftikhar Hussain Shah aka ‘Zahry Shah’ and real brother of PML-N’s nominee for MNA from NA-75 Daska Nosheen Gillani, was caught red-handed the other day while supplying drugs. He is currently in police custody, she said, adding that he was also caught in a similar case at Dubai airport.

She said the Punjab government was fully cooperating with the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) in its anti-drug operations. As many as 679 cases were registered and 787 people were arrested in Punjab during 2019 and 2020.

She said 861 kg of heroin, 6159 kg of hashish, 1341 kg of opium, 3.46 kg of cocaine, 3.25 kg of marijuana, 864 kg of cannabis and 120 kg of other narcotics were seized and action was taken against the accused.

Speaking on the occasion, DIG Operations Sohail Sukhera informed the media that the Punjab police registered a total of 46,646 cases against drug dealers and recovered 24,894 kg of hashish and 1,140 kg of heroin in 2020, adding that 75% of accused were convicted in drug trafficking cases during this period.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021