The government has been ordered by the Sindh High Court (SHC) to impose a total ban on the sale and purchase of gutka and related goods throughout Sindh.
The petition for a ban on the aforementioned items was heard by the SHC in Karachi, and the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Special Branch and DIG of Hyderabad were present as well.
After delivering the instructions about the ban, it reportedly postponed the hearing of the matter until 29 October 2022.
In the last hearing, the SHC had mandated the creation of a list of police officers running illegal companies or dealing in illegal commodities and had imposed severe penalties on them.
In addition, it wanted information on the gutka and mawa companies run by members of the Sindh Police and its senior brass, and it instructed the pertinent organizations to enlist the aid of the Sindh Rangers in this regard.
Following a raid on a gutka plant in Karachi in September, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) detained a number of terrorist facilitators.
In this context, CTD Officials reported that they detained around 12 individuals who were connected to an outlawed terrorist group and that they also found a significant amount of hazardous materials in their hands.
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