Bhuj, Jul 1 (PTI) A special NDPS court here on Wednesday sentenced 19 people — 18 Pakistani nationals and an Afghan citizen — to 20-year rigorous imprisonment in three cases of smuggling heroin worth Rs 575 crore through the coastal area of Gujarat’s Kutch district between 2020-2022.
The court, after evaluating the evidence presented by the prosecution, concluded that the accused were involved in targeting Indian youth and pushing them into drug addiction, and such an act cannot be called ordinary.
They were part of a well-planned conspiracy to weaken the nation’s fabric by supplying large quantities of narcotics, noted the court in Bhuj, the headquarters of Kutch district, while also imposing a Rs 2 lakh fine on each of them.
Additional Sessions and Special NDPS Court Judge V A Buddha found all the 19 accused guilty of the offence under Section 8(c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment for 20 years.
The section makes the production, manufacture, possession, sale, purchase, transport, or use of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance a criminal offence.
The problem of narcotics does not remain at the individual level but also becomes a national problem as it directly affects the internal security of the country, the court noted.
The court delivered its verdict in three separate cases that were registered by the Gujarat Anti- Terrorist Squad (ATS) and involved drugs being smuggled from Pakistan via the Arabian sea route and unloaded in the coastal part of Jakhau in Kutch district.
Acting on intelligence that a boat from Pakistan loaded with contraband drugs was on its way to the Jakhau coast, the ATS teamed up with the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and intercepted a suspicious boat on January 6, 2020, with five people onboard, all citizens of the neighbouring country.
From their possession, 35kg of heroin worth Rs 175 crore was recovered. Accordingly, an FIR was registered and a chargesheet filed by the ATS.
One of the accused died during trial.
In second and third cases, the ATS acted on a similar tip-off and teamed up with the ICG to intercept boats with the accused persons carrying narcotics worth crores of rupees.
In the second case, the ATS and the ICG intercepted a suspicious boat on April 15, 2021, with eight Pakistani citizens on board and seized 30kg of heroin worth Rs 150 crore.
In the third case, the agencies intercepted a boat mid-sea on October 8, 2022, with six Pakistani citizens and an Afghan national on board and seized 50kg of the narcotic substance worth Rs 250 crore.
All the three cases were clubbed into one and the accused are currently lodged in jails. PTI KA PD RSY
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