IHC slaps fine on PPP's Makhdoom Shahabuddin in ephedrine case

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) division bench on Saturday slapped fines of Rs100,000 each on former federal minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Makhdoom Shahabuddin and two other accused in a case related to the allocation of ephedrine quotas and its alleged smuggling.

Shahabuddin and other accused moved the Islamabad High Court seeking acquittal in the case. The case against the accused was registered on October 11, 2011.

The accused argued in their petitions that ephedrine should not be classified as a drug, and therefore, the case should be dismissed and they must be acquitted.

However, a two-member bench of Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiani and Justice Sardar Aijaz Ishaq rejected the pleas and slapped a fine on the PPP leader and two other accused in the case.

The court in its detailed verdict said the verdict already passed in 2017 on the legal matters in the case and the same points were raised again in the pleas.