A senior Pakistani opposition leader Rana Sanaullah was arrested on Monday, over charges of having links with drug rackets and smuggling a big cache of drugs, an official said.

Spokesman of the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Riaz Somroo, said in a statement that Sanaullah, leader of Pakistan Muslim League, Nawaz (PML-N) was taken into custody near Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab Province.

Somroo said the ANF received intelligence tip that the opposition leader was transporting a big cache of drugs in a convoy with security escort from his hometown Faisalabad to Lahore.

“The ANF team intercepted the convoy at the superhighway and seized the huge cache of drugs from his vehicle,” the ANF spokesman said adding that Sanaullah and his companions were arrested on charges of drug smuggling.

He said the ANF had shifted the detainees to an undisclosed location for investigation.

Local Urdu TV Channel, Geo, reported that the ANF arrested Sanaullah after members of a drug racket revealed that he was involved in the illegal activity.

Sanaullah, president of the PML-N, Punjab Province and member of the National Assembly or the lower house of the parliament, is considered one of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s close confidantes.

President of the PML-N Shahbaz Sharif has condemned the arrest of the party leader calling it “political victimization.’’

In a statement, Sharif demanded that Sanaullah be charged to court and the ANF should produce evidence to support the charges.

NAN