A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday awarded a jail term of 20 years to eight Pakistani nationals who were caught carrying 232 kg of heroin on a fishing boat off the Gujarat coast in 2015.
The convicts were identified as Alibaksha Khashkeli Sindhi, Maksud Akhtar Yusuf Masim, Mohammad Baksh Natho, Mohammad Ahamad Mohammad Inayat, Mohammad Yusuf Abdulla Gagawani, Mohammad Yunus Haji Mohammad Sumar Sindhi, Mohammad Gulhasan Moulabaksh Baluch Sindhi and Gulhasan Mohammad Siddiq Sindhi.
Since the men have already been in jail for nearly a decade, that period will be taken into account and they will now have to spend another ten years in prison.
Special Judge S E Bangar found the men guilty under charges pertaining to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The court said that while the men had claimed to be fishermen, they had not explained why their boats had packets carrying commerical quantities of heroin. It also said they were carrying three satellite phones, which civilians in India or Pakistan are not allowed to use.
According to the records, on April 26, 2015, Coast Guard officials were patrolling at the National Maritime Border off Gujarat when around 3.10 am, their radar showed the presence of a boat with no flag. The officials boarded the boat, which had no name or number, and found eight crew members who were Pakistani nationals. The men claimed they were fishermen and faced a problem with the engine during their fishing trip.
The officials searched the boat but no fish catch was found. Instead, there were 11 blue drums with packets. On reaching the shore at Porbandar, the packets were tested and were found to contain heroin. The contraband weighed 232 kg – one kg in each packet. The men also had three satellite phones, two GPS navigation charts, mobile phones and an inverter.
Thereafter, the Yellow Gate police in Mumbai filed an FIR under the NDPS Act and the men were brought to Mumbai and lodged in a city jail.
During the trial, the men had sought discharge on the ground that the Mumbai police had no jurisdiction to handle the matter as the seizure took place in international waters. This contention was rejected by the court, stating that due procedure was followed as per international conventions.
The court also said that GPS navigation charts were found on the boat which showed that they were heading to India.
Special public prosecutor Sumesh Panjwani sought maximum punishment for the men to deter others from indulging in trafficking narcotic drugs into India. The men, through their lawyer A G Lala, sought leniency stating that they had no communication with their families during their incarceration and said they could be deported once their prison terms were over.
The detailed court order is yet to be made available.
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