Gilani's son arrested in connection with Ephedrine scam

Islamabad, Sept 14: Former Pakistani premier

son Ali Musa was today arrested by the army-run Anti-Narcotics Force in connection with a case related to alleged irregularities in the import of

, a controlled drug.

Ali Musa was arrested at the gates of the Supreme Court when he arrived this morning to seek pre-arrest bail. He was taken to an ANF office in Rawalpindi and detained in a room. Following his arrest, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk directed the ANF to produce Ali Musa within half an hour.

ANF officials subsequently brought Ali Musa back to the apex court shortly before 11 am and the bench granted him bail against a surety of Rs 500,000. The bench then adjourned the case till Sept 25.

Ali Musa has been accused of influencing officials of the Health Ministry to allocate Ephedrine quotas of 9,000 kg to two pharmaceutical companies while his father was the premier. After his father was convicted of contempt and disqualified by the apex court in June for not reopening graft cases against the President, Ali Musa was elected to the parliament from his father's seat.

Gilani has said his son was framed in a baseless case. He also accused army officials who lead the ANF of exceeding their powers in investigating the matter. Footage on television showed unformed personnel of the ANF grabbing Ali Musa's coat and dragging him out of his car when he arrived at the Supreme Court this morning.

His lawyers complained about the behaviour of the ANF personnel to the bench. The bench took exception to the incident and directed the ANF to bring Ali Musa back to the court. The bench said Ali Musa was being granted bail as Textiles Minister Makhdoom Sahabuddin, a co-accused in the case, had also been given bail.

PTI