Gorakhpur court sentences 5 drug peddlers to 12 yrs in jail

Zonal NCB director, Lucknow zonal unit, Prashant Kumar Srivastava said: “Santosh Kumar Pandey, Prince Jaiswal, Arvind Yadav and Rakesh Choubey, all residents of Azamgarh and Gopal Srivastava, a resident of Sonbhadra district were all sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment.

Five drug peddlers and members of inter-state drugs syndicate were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of 12 years each by the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) judge of Gorakhpur district court on Monday. Senior officials of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) confirmed this development on Tuesday.

Gorakhpur court sentences 5 drug peddlers to 12 yrs in jail (Pic for representation)

Zonal NCB director, Lucknow zonal unit, Prashant Kumar Srivastava said: “Santosh Kumar Pandey, Prince Jaiswal, Arvind Yadav and Rakesh Choubey, all residents of Azamgarh and Gopal Srivastava, a resident of Sonbhadra district were all sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment. Judge Vinay Arya, ASJ, of NDPS court also imposed a fine of ₹ 1 lakh each on all five accused.”

Srivastava said the court convicted and sentenced them exactly four years after they were apprehended by the NCB. He said all five convicts were apprehended by the NCB, Lucknow in connection with the recovery of 202 kilogram of Ganja (cannabis) at NH-28 in Gorakhpur district on March 9, 2019.

Srivastava said the contraband was concealed among legal goods that were loaded in a truck (UP50 BT 3136). He said all five were members of inter-state syndicate of drug peddlers and were smuggling the cannabis from Assam to western U.P. districts. “The case was registered as sessions trial case no. 19/2019 after charges were framed against accused persons. Special Public Prosecutor from NCB, Musafir Singh presented three witnesses and various case related documents during the trial and argued that the accused were arrested more than ten times and were bailed out,” he said.

“The court found all accused guilty of the offence committed under different sections of NDPS Act, 1985 and sentenced them to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment,” Srivastava said.