Overview
- Special NDPS courts issued heavy sentences, including 15 years for a Fazilka convict caught with 4.235 kg of heroin and 15 years each for three traffickers in Jabalpur linked to 879.530 kg of ganja.
- A Mumbai NDPS court acquitted a South African woman in a 3 kg heroin case, with Judge U C Deshmukh directing the judgment to the NCB director general for action and urging comprehensive training to prevent procedural lapses.
- A Delhi court acquitted a Brazilian national in a 2016 case tied to 3.69 kg of cocaine, citing failures to comply with mandatory NDPS provisions, missing independent witnesses and translator testimony, and gaps in forensic proof.
- The NCB said it seized 4.776 kg of cocaine at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport from a Brazilian passenger’s modified handbags and detained the accused for questioning under the NDPS Act.
- Separate from the acquittals, other courts continued to secure convictions, including a Delhi case where a 21-year-old was found guilty for possessing 200 grams of heroin under presumptions in sections 35 and 54.