By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Saturday ordered alleged narcotics kingpin Anmol, better known as Pinky, remanded into police custody until May 22 in a major case filed under the Sindh Control of Narcotic Substances Act, capping a day of court appearances in which authorities sought to question her in more than a dozen separate criminal matters.
The 34-year-old woman, whom investigators describe as the central figure in a sophisticated drug distribution ring operating across Karachi and beyond, was produced before multiple magistrates as her three-day physical remand from an earlier hearing expired. In the primary narcotics case registered at the Specialized Investigation Unit of the Crime Investigation Agency, police had sought 14 days of further custody. Magistrate Abdul Sattar, presiding over the Central district court, granted six days, ruling the investigating officer’s request “cogent and reasonable.”
Separately, a South district magistrate extended her physical remand by two days in a murder case linked to a fatal overdose at the Baghdadi police station. In the remaining 13 cases — spanning additional narcotics offenses, an unlicensed weapon and other charges — magistrates denied police requests for custody and sent Anmol on judicial remand to prison.
The rulings came after a week of intensifying scrutiny. Anmol was arrested on May 12 from an apartment in Karachi’s Garden area during a joint operation by local police and a civilian intelligence agency. Authorities said they recovered 1,540 grams of cocaine, 6,970 grams of raw material and other drugs and weapons with an estimated street value of Rs1.5 million. Investigators have described the network as employing riders, suppliers, dealers, manufacturers and managers, with deliveries allegedly reaching customers across the city.
Yet Anmol has consistently disputed the official account of her arrest. During Saturday’s proceedings she told the court she was detained in Lahore about 15 to 22 days earlier by six police officials, held in custody and subjected to maltreatment before being transferred to Karachi. She alleged that her former husband, Rana Nasir, whom she said divorced her roughly three months ago, orchestrated her implication in the cases out of personal vendetta.
In the murder case, her lawyer, Hidayatullah Khan, argued that evidence linking her to the victim — a sticker bearing her brand name on a jar recovered from the deceased — had been manipulated. The defense contended the fatal dose belonged to narcotics “allegedly of the brand of the accused” but insisted the labeling was planted after the fact.
Anmol’s court appearances were marked by visible distress. At one point she began shouting, insisting police wanted to record her statement under duress and terming all the cases against her “false.” When women officers attempted to cover her face with a chador as she was moved between courtrooms, she repeatedly pulled the fabric away, telling officers inside the premises, “I can’t breathe, don’t put a cloth over my face.” Magistrate Abdul Sattar directed that she be examined by a female medicolegal officer and provided any necessary medical treatment.
The Specialized Investigation Unit’s investigating officer, Shaukat Ali, told the court that the case originated in 2025 after the arrest of a delivery rider named Bilal in Karachi’s Central district. The rider, according to police, identified Anmol as his employer. A second officer, Darakhshan Maqbool, informed the court earlier in the week that Anmol faced 10 new cases and four older ones, and that investigators were still pursuing additional suspects believed to be at large. Police have uncovered financial transactions running into millions of rupees, blocked her national identity card and traced cellphone numbers registered in the names of innocent civilians, the officer said.
Anmol’s counsel, Liaquat Ali Gabol, opposed further police custody, arguing procedural irregularities, including her failure to be produced in court on May 15 as initially scheduled. Defence lawyers described the suspect as having been shuttled between locations for nearly three weeks.
Karachi police have described the investigation as “broad-based,” with preliminary findings suggesting possible foreign involvement in the narcotics network. On Saturday, authorities indicated they intend to use the new custody period to apprehend remaining members of the ring. The case has also drawn attention from outside Sindh. Punjab police have revived three older cases registered years ago against Anmol and her brothers in Lahore and are preparing to seek her transfer from Sindh custody.
Separately, after Anmol reportedly identified an associate named Tahir Saleem as a resident of Hasilpur in Bahawalpur district, police in that region have launched efforts to locate him. The Saturday hearings represented the latest chapter in a rapid legal escalation. On May 12, a South district magistrate declined to grant police custody and sent Anmol to prison on judicial remand. The following day another court approved a three-day physical remand, which ended Saturday morning.
Anmol has been booked in multiple criminal cases prior to her most recent arrest, according to police records. Investigators maintain that the breadth of the charges — and the scale of the alleged operation — justify continued questioning. Her lawyers, however, have portrayed the proceedings as a campaign of harassment.
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