Mumbai: Court refuses to deport eight Pakistani nationals held with heroin worth ₹600 crore

The Mumbai sessions court on Monday refused to deport back eight Pakistani nationals caught by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) with 232kg heroin worth ₹600 crore on the high sea in 2015

The Mumbai sessions court on Monday refused to deport back eight Pakistani nationals caught by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) with 232kg heroin worth ₹600 crore on the high sea in 2015.

Arrested computer hacker and cyber criminal with handcuffs, close up of hands (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

All the eight Pakistani nationals, lodged in a Mumbai prison, had approached the special NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act court seeking directions to the government authorities to deport them back to Karachi.

They had claimed that a court at Mumbai did not have the territorial jurisdiction to try they and they can be prosecuted back in Pakistan, in accordance with the law of that country.

ICG and Indian Navy had on April 20, 2015, intercepted a boat carrying Pakistani flag, AL-Yasir, 157 nautical miles away from the baseline of Indian territorial waters.

The accused, namely Alibakhsh Allahbakhsh, 30, Yunus Sutar, 35, G Siddique, 40, Gulshan Maulabakhsh, 30, Bakhsh Natho, 40, Mohmmad Yusuf, 40, Mohmmad Ahmed, 28 and Maqsood Akhtar, were all found in the boat from which the packets containing heroin was seized.

The lawyer for the Pakistani nationals, advocate Anil Lala, had pointed that territorial jurisdiction of the NDPS court at Mumbai extends only to territorial waters of India – up to 12 nautical miles from Indian shores. Therefore, Lala argued that, the applicants accused allegedly found on the boat in question, AL-Yasir, approximately 157 nautical miles away from the Indian coast were beyond the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any Indian court.”

The public prosecutor SS Panjwani had opposed the plea, saying territorial waters of India continue up to continental shelf, exclusive economic zone and other areas determined in accordance with provisions of the Maritime Act, 1976.

Panjwani further pointed out that as per section 7(1) of the said Act, there was an Exclusive Economic Zone of India which is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial waters and limit of such zone is 200 nautical miles.

Besides, the prosecution relied on the United Nations resolution on the prohibition of illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances to point out that a country can act against offenders even if the alleged offence is committed beyond its territory, if that affects the country concerned.

“Therefore, even if the offence is committed beyond territorial limits or jurisdiction of Indian courts and if it is within its exclusive economic zone of India which extends up to 200 nautical miles, Indian courts will have jurisdiction to try such offences, being an offence against the country,” Panjwani argued.

After hearing both the side, the court rejected the plea. The court said considering the seriousness of the alleged offences, the quantity of the narcotic drugs allegedly seized from the boat in question and that the aspect of national security is involved, it will be just and proper to give the prosecution reasonable and proper opportunity to prove the aspect of the jurisdiction of the court and its case on merits.”

The court has, however, expedited the trial of the eight foreign nationals.