A special court in Pakistan for narcotics cases acquitted the country’s interior minister of drug smuggling charges on Saturday, according to a defence lawyer, in a case filed against him during the previous administration.

Rana Sanaullah, who previously served as Punjab province’s law minister, was apprehended in July 2019 by federal anti-narcotics agents near the eastern city of Lahore.

At the time, the anti-drug agency said it also arrested five others, including Sanaullah’s driver and guards working for Sanaullah, and seized 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of heroin from the vehicle.

Sanaullah was imprisoned for nearly six months before the Lahore High Court ordered his release on bail, ruling that no substantial evidence was ever presented to the court.

According to Farhad Ali Shah, Sanaullah’s attorney, in his petition to the court for acquittal, he blamed the former government of Imran Khan for victimizing him on political grounds.

Two prosecution witnesses testified before Judge Shaikh Naeem on Saturday that they never saw any narcotics recovered from Sanaullah’s vehicle.