Karachi police get 3-day physical remand of alleged cocaine queenpin

KARACHI: A court on Wednesday granted police three-day physical remand of a woman allegedly involved in supplying cocaine and other deadly narcotics across the city.

Anmol alias Pinki was arrested a day earlier from her Garden apartment in a joint raid conducted by police and a civilian intelligence agency in connection with two cases pertaining to the possession of narcotics and an unlicenced weapon.

The incident gained attention when a video of her being escorted to court without handcuffs went viral on social media. Subsequently, authorities suspended the investigating officer, including two other policemen, while the accused was sent on judicial remand by a judicial magistrate.

On Wednesday, the investigation officer (IO) filed a revision application against the judicial magistrate’s order. The matter was taken up by District and Sessions Judge Zahoor Ahmed Hakro.

According to an order issued by the court, a copy of which is available, said that investigating officer (IO) Saeed Ahmed contended that the accused was the “head of a narcotic gang and used to supply narcotics through an established chain”.

“The IO further submitted that since the roots of this chain were to be ascertained by making proper interrogation from the accused in police custody, which could not be made due to the remand of the accused in jail custody,” it said.

“The perusal of the remand order shows that the learned judicial magistrate has not given proper reasons for remanding the accused in judicial custody,” it said.

The order said that the suspect’s judicial remand had been “set aside” along with the order issued by the judicial magistrate. The judge directed the superintendent of the women’s jail to hand over the suspect’s custody to the IO.

Separately, Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar expressed satisfaction over the development, stating that the police “re-examined the legal aspects and presented their position in the court again,” according to a statement issued via his spokesperson.

As per the statement, “significant progress has been made in the case following orders” from the provincial home minister.

Lanjar directed a “fair, transparent and merit-based investigation so that all facts of the case come to light,” stressing that “no one was above the law”.