Court refuses bail to Nigerian national in Cordelia drugs bust case

Special NDPS court in Mumbai rejects bail for Nigerian national in Cordelia Drug Bust case for supplying drugs on a cruise ship; 40 Ecstasy tablets found.

MUMBAI: A special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court on Tuesday rejected the bail application of a Nigerian national and one of the last accused in the Cordelia Drug Bust case. He allegedly supplied drugs for a party on a cruise ship and was arrested with 40 Ecstasy tablets in 2021.

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Special judge BY Phad while rejecting Chinedu Igwe’s bail application, said, “Prima facie, it appears that the applicant has committed an offence of commercial quantity of contraband under NDPS Act. Therefore, the rigours of section 37 would apply to the facts of the present case.”

On October 2, 2021, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) raided the cruise ship which was on its way to Goa from Mumbai. Several people, including Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, his friend Arbaz Merchant, and model Munmun Dhamecha, were first detained for questioning and later arrested.

The agency claimed to have recovered 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of mephedrone, 22 pills of ecstasy — in ‘intermediate quantities’, and 21 grams of charas, in ‘small quantity’, and cash around ₹1.33 lakh during the raid.

NCB had also arrested Igwe from suburban Andheri by laying a trap on October 7, 2021, and claimed that 40 tablets of Ecstasy were found in his possession.

Igwe filed for bail as other accused found with such tablets were already released by the court and claimed that the prosecution had violated the mandate of sections 42 and 50 of the NDPS Act and that he was neither the supplier nor the receiver of the alleged contraband to the co-accused.

A special public prosecutor, however, opposed the plea stating that the offence was serious and that Igwe was found in conscious possession. The applicant was apprehended at a public place hence the question of compliance with section 42 relating to search premises did not arise, the prosecution added.