Mumbai: Observing that her children were in an orphanage in Zambia cannot be a reason to show leniency, a special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act court convicted and sentenced a 63-year-old Zambian national to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for attempting to smuggle out 15kg of methaqualone worth nearly Rs 7.5 crore in 2014. The accused, Ngona Joyce, was also fined Rs 1 lakh.
While Joyce claimed that she was only carrying the package on behalf of a cousin in Delhi, it could not be verified.
While sentencing Joyce, special judge S E Bangar said, “Except the fact that her children are at an orphanage in Zambia…there is no mitigating circumstance which can be considered for imposing a minimum sentence. Since the provisions of the NDPS Act expect the imposition of stricter and more stringent punishment, it would not be just and proper to show leniency while sentencing the accused when she was found with a huge quantity of the controlled substance in violation of the law.”
Joyce was out on bail.
It was the prosecution’s case that on the night of Jan 21, 2014, Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officers, aided by a sniffer dog, identified Joyce’s suspicious behaviour at the South African Airways check-in counter. Acting on the dog’s alert, the AIU officers intercepted Joyce and scrutinised her checked-in baggage.
During the preliminary examination, the AIU officers, in the presence of two independent panchas, discovered that the trolley bag contained 47 lace rolls, each concealing a cardboard packet filled with white crystalline powder. Subsequent field tests confirmed the substance as methaqualone, a psychotropic drug under the NDPS Act.
The contraband, valued at nearly Rs 7.5 crore in the illicit market, was seized, and representative samples were collected for forensic analysis. During questioning, Joyce stated that the locked bag was handed to her by her cousin in Delhi, along with instructions to deliver it to a contact in Gaborone, Botswana. While Joyce denied prior knowledge of the bag’s contents, she acknowledged possession of its keys and admitted that she refrained from opening the bag to verify its contents, trusting her cousin. She added that she was not offered any remuneration for transporting the bag.
The probe corroborated several elements of her statement, including her travel itinerary, hotel stays in Mumbai and Delhi, and her interactions with her cousin. However, attempts to trace the accomplices, including her cousin, proved inconclusive.
Relying on the statements of the witnesses, the judge said, “The depositions of the prosecution witnesses collectively establish that the accused was in possession of 14.096 kilograms of Methaqualone concealed in her checked-in baggage. While minor procedural lapses were noted, they do not materially affect the credibility of the witnesses or the integrity of the evidence presented.”
MSID:: 116322390 413 |
