Mumbai: The special NDPS court on Wednesday held eight Pakistani nationals guilty as they were caught with 232 kg of Heroin in a Pakistani fishing boat. The boat was intercepted by the Coast Guard in April 2015. The eight Pakistanis have been have been sentenced to 20 years and asked to pay fine.
The eight Pakistani nationals were identified as, Alibaksh Khashkeli, Maksood Masim, Mohammad Baksh Natho, Mohammad Ahmad Mohd Inayat, Mohammad Younus Haji Mohd. Sumar, Mohammad, Yousuf Abdulla Gagawani, Mohammad Gulhasan Maulabksh Baluch, Gulhasan Mohd. Siddhiq.
Observation Made By The Court
The accused had claimed that they were fishermen, but the special judge Shashikant E Bangar said that the accused were all Pakistani nationals, found with drums full of huge quantity of heroin. The court has further rejected their claims of being fishermen and said, they had no answers for possession of such a huge quantity of drugs satellite phones, GPS navigators. “Fishermen don’t use such high-end equipments and no country allows usage of satellite phone. This shows they were all part of the conspiracy.”
The defence lawyer Anil Lalla, had pleaded that they should be deported back to Pakistan as they have already spent a minimum sentence of ten years in India. While the public prosecutor Sumesh Panjwani, asked for maximum punishment saying it should be deterrent enough.
As per the prosecution case, on April 21, 2015, the Coastal Guard officials were patroling in a vessel namely ‘Sangram’ at the National Maritime Border-line in Gujarat. At around 3:10 am, radar intercepted one boat having no flag on it.
About The Case
The coast guard vessel closed into the boat and found the presence of 8 persons on said boat. The boat was not having any name and number. Later, it was revealed that the boat’s name was Al-Yasir, and it was registered in Pakistan. When asked by the officials, the accused said that they were poor fishermen.
The officials claimed that the accused claimed that their boat was on a fishing trip and they had some problem with the engine. They further pleaded that they were poor fishermen and having a very tough time. However, the officials said when searched they found no fish catch in the boat by the boarding party.
On search, 11 blue-coloured drums with sealed packets were found hidden inside the boat. When asked further they said it to be some chemical however, they could not explain as to why they were carrying those items on board. They were also unable to produce any documents related to the cargo. On enquiring further they said they were going towards India.
The boat was later escorted to Porbandar at 2 pm on April 22, 2015. The accused were handed over to police, while drums were opened and the substance in the packet was sent to FSL for preliminary identification of the chemical. It was found to be Heroin. The authorities recovered 232 packets of the Narcotic substance each weighing 1 kg. The contraband was at that time valued to be of Rs 6.96 crores at that time.
The case against the eight accused was hence registered with Yellow gate police station under various provisions along with charges under NDPS Act.
