KARACHI: The Customs Court has granted bail to a local leader of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who contested from NA-169 Bahawalnagar and lost in the July 25 general elections, in diesel smuggling case.
While surrendering to a Customs court in Karachi, Mian Abdul Rasheed claimed that he had not committed any crime and sought bail immediately.
Custom Officials said that the accused has been involved in misdeclaration of assets, smuggling and that bail should not be granted. He allegedly caused loss of over Rs20 million to the national exchequer.
However, the court accepted Rasheed’s bail plea on surety bond of Rs0.1 million each in four cases, and ordered him to appear before the court in the next hearing.
According to an investigation officer, Rasheed, a Multan resident, is the chief executive officer of M/S Kamran laboratories.
In 2009, he imported petroleum products. However, during inspection, it was found that thousands of liters of diesel was smuggled.
Four separate first information reports (FIRs) have been registered against the PTI leader regarding smuggling and misdeclaration.