ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah alleged that the mastermind of the bogus case of drugs against him was former Prime Minister Imran Khan, while Shehzad Akbar and ex-DG Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) were complicit.

In a series of tweets, the interior minister on Saturday blamed former Prime Minister Khan for the “spurious and mala fide” drugs case against. He stated that he had spoken to Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa about the ANF’s role in this regard.

“Shahzad Akbar impelled the capital police to place a bag of 15-kilogram heroin in my lodge which (they) refused to do so. All the proceedings were undertaken on the directives of the former premier who wanted me behind the bars due to his personal enmity,” he said.

Sanaullah added that he had written and spoken to the army chief about the ANF’s role in the case against him.

Sanaullah was arrested in the case in July 2019 under the previous PTI government by the ANF, which claimed to have recovered 15kg of heroin from his vehicle. He was later granted bail by the Lahore High Court (LHC).

A special court for the control of narcotic substances in Lahore has summoned the interior minister on July 23 for the framing of charges against him.

The PML-N has previously alleged that the then prime minister was behind the case.

The matter returned to political discourse after the PTI’s Fawad Chaudhry, in an interview on a private TV channel on Thursday, conceded that the case against Sanaullah was “rubbish”.

Fawad stated he never believed the case had merit and it “should never have been filed against him”.

Sanaullah was arrested on July 1, 2019 by the ANF Lahore team while he was travelling from Faisalabad to Lahore near the Ravi Toll Plaza on the motorway. He was accused of carrying 15kg of heroin in his vehicle. Five others, including the driver and security guards of the PML-N leader, were also arrested.

A first information report was lodged under Section 9(C) of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997, which carries death penalty or life imprisonment or a jail term that may extend to 14 years, along with a fine up to Rs1 million. He was twice denied bail by the trial court but the LHC granted him on December 24, 2019.