Bail to Polish national arrested for trafficking 6 kg heroin

Jasinski Andrzej Wieslaw had flown into Mumbai from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on November 7, 2022, when the CBI arrested him at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport after receiving an alert from Interpol

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday granted bail to a Polish national arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at Mumbai airport in 2022 for allegedly possessing over 6 kg of heroin. A single judge bench of justice NJ Jamadar said the CBI had failed to follow the proper mandate to search the accused and collect samples of the seized drugs.

One of the bags the accused was carrying allegedly contained three plastic pouches with heroin.

Jasinski Andrzej Wieslaw had flown into Mumbai from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on November 7, 2022, when the CBI arrested him at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport after receiving an alert from Interpol. One of the bags he was carrying allegedly contained three plastic pouches with heroin.

Wieslaw then approached the high court for bail, claiming he was a highly qualified professor of repute and was being falsely implicated in a drug trafficking case. He also said he was not searched in the presence of the nearest magistrate or a gazetted officer, as mandated by Section 50 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. He added that the procedure laid out under the Act for drawing samples was also not followed. The CBI refuted the claims.

The court, however, refused to accept the CBI’s arguments and said the agency did not follow the statutory mandate. Justice Jamadar said that whether the empowered officer carried out the search is “debatable”. The court also took into consideration that the foreigner was 76 years old, and the trial was not likely to start soon. It ordered the Polish national to be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond of ₹1 lakh with one or two sureties of the same amount. It also forbade him from leaving the country without prior permission.