Aryan Khan cruise ship drugs bust: Several drug packets thrown overboard once presence of NCB on-board became known

MUMBAI: A reliable Narcotics Control Bureau, NCB source told this reporter on Tuesday, that since the number of sleuths on board the cruise ship Cordelia The Empress, when compared to the passengers was ill-matched, many passengers who were consuming drugs or doobies, immediately flung the cigarettes and contraband over board.

There were approximately 1,800 passengers on board that night, not to forget staff and crew. Compare that to about 24 to 30 NCB officials.

Once the officials began their operation, several others on board who had drugs on them or who were consuming drugs, flung it overboard.

While those who had begun smoking, could still be detected, those who had drugs hidden on their person and threw it overboard would never be caught, one among whom was Fashion TV India MD Kashiff Khan, who managed to escape the NCB clutches on that fateful night.

Sources said hundreds of passengers had come with small quantities of drugs for personal consumption, but as the sleuths first zeroed in on the well-known and recognizable faces, the unknowns got a chance to destroy all evidence of drug use or storage on their person.

Besides, out of the 1800 passengers on board, a majority, say about 75 percent – to make a wild guess, were not drug or narcotics users at all and had come purely to enjoy the cruise.

“We could not stop or detain the entire ship as holidaymakers had paid huge sums for the cruise trip and for 10 or 20 or 50 drug users, detaining or inconveniencing 1750 persons could have had undesirable legal ramifications as the courts have hauled up the NCB in this regard. To sift and scan 1800 passengers on board the cruise ship that had self-contained suit rooms and cabins was a very difficult or rather impossible task. A result of which several more drugs and narcotics consumers were let off the hook or went unchecked as the NCB officials went for the big game and brand names, leaving the aam aadmi free to scoot,” the officer said.

The senior NCB source said, “if we were to make a guess, at least 50 to 60 people were doing drugs at that point in time, but we were able to check and nab only 8 to 10 persons on board as we were short-staffed and many others threw the drugs packages over board, the moment they figured out or got a whiff of Federal drug enforcement officers on board.”