This Is How 2025 Starts: India – 37 years later, man gets 20 years in jail for bid to smuggle 4,000 kg hashish in drums as ‘mango chutney’ | Cannabis Law Report | How to order Skittles Moonrock online

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Bhanushali, a resident of Santacruz, was also directed to pay a fine of Rs 10 lakh.

He was convicted under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and Customs Act. Bhanushali was serving a prison term in another case in Rampur district jail in Uttar Pradesh and was brought to Mumbai in 2018 to face trial in this case.

The case from 1987— two years after the NDPS Act was enacted — was probed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

The DRI claimed that it had received information that there was a conspiracy to export hashish from India and that drugs were stored in a warehouse in Vikhroli, the eastern suburbs of the city.

On July 1, 1987, the agency began keeping a watch on the warehouse. It was alleged that the accused found out that there had been a leak, and nobody visited the warehouse, fearing action. The next day, the DRI raided the warehouse and found 550 plastic drums stored there.

While 50 drums were empty, the remaining were filled with mango chutney, of which 194 drums had plastic packets inside them.

These packets contained dark brown substance, which was later found to be hashish.

The DRI sezied 4,365 kg hashish, valued at Rs 2.6 crore in India and Rs 40 crore abroad. The drums also had a sticker, “Sweet Sliced Mango Chutney” pasted on them, stating that it was an Indian condiment and with the name of a company, Shivam Food Products, which probe later showed, was not in existence.

The DRI searched various properties and named ten persons as accused, including Bhanushali.

The DRI claimed that one foreign national, named Markos, as part of the conspiracy had approached a manufacturer of mango chutney, but was told that the condiment would only be available during mango season.

Subsequently, Markos, whose real name was revealed to be Ibrahim, and who remains a wanted accused, assembled others to export the drug. Hashish was procured, mango chutney was bought from a factory in Wada in Maharashtra, and fake documents to show that the chutney was to be exported were prepared, and the drugs were instead packed in the drums and stored at the warehouse, the DRI claimed.

Among those arrested was the owner of the warehouse, drivers and those who had supplied the chutney.

In a previous trial against three persons which concluded in 2010, all of them were acquitted, including one person named as the main accused, on various grounds including that there was ill-treatment and illegal detention of those accused.

Since Bhanushali had a previous conviction under the NDPS Act, special public prosecutor Vijendra Mishra sought the maximum punishment, the death penalty.

Bhanushali, who attended the proceedings in a wheelchair, had sought leniency on the ground that he has many ailments and is unable to walk or do chores on his own.

Special Judge S E Bangar said on Monday that addiction to narcotic drugs is spreading widely in the society and the younger generation is vulnerable to it.

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/37-years-20-years-jail-bid-smuggle-4000-kg-hashish-drums-mango-chutney-9752494/