Drugs-on-cruise-ship case: Accused files bail plea before NDPS court

MUMBAI, (PTI): An accused arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the drugs-on-cruise case has filed a bail plea before a special NDPS court. Of the 20 people arrested in the case, 18 accused, including Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan, are currently out on bail.

Abdul Qadir Shaikh (30), who was arrested by the NCB on October 6, has applied for bail before special judge V V Patil, through his advocate Apoorva Srivastava.

The bail plea was filed on Tuesday and its first hearing was listed on Thursday. The court has posted the matter for the NCB’s reply and arguments on December 16, the lawyer said.

According to the probe agency, at least 2.5 gm of Ecstasy and 54.3 gm of Mephedrone was recovered from Shaikh. The NCB has claimed that Shaikh had been arrested based on the information it had gathered during the custodial interrogation of other accused.

Shaikh, in his bail plea, claimed that he was not a part of any drug trafficking network and had not conspired with the other accused.

The accused further stated that apart from the alleged recovery, the remand application doesn’t contain any allegations against him. Shaikh alleged that he has been falsely implicated in the case and claimed that he was illegally detained by the probe agency.

Based on a tip-off, an NCB team raided Goa-bound Cordelia cruise off the Mumbai coast on the evening of October 2 and allegedly seized drugs. (PTI)