MAHMOOD KURDEYA Vs. NARCOTICS CONTROL BUREAU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The case of the prosecution is that the Narcotic Control Burea (NCB) received secret information on 24/9/2018 that one Erbil Han (Turkish citizen) was smuggling large quantities of narcotics and psychotropic drugs from the Indira Gandhi International Airport. He was apprehended at the Airport and thousands of tablets of Tramadol X-225 were recovered from his luggage. This person named the appellant as the person who gave him the drugs on 23/9/2018 in his statement recorded under Sec. 67 of the NDPS Act. It was found that the bags in which contraband had been found had been purchased by the appellant and even the owner of the shop identified the appellant based on the photographs.

(3.) The appellant is a Syrian national living in Delhi as a refugee since 2015 and claims that he is a Chef by training. The appellant has been in custody since 27/9/2018 i.e. for a period of three years and three months. At the time of issuing notice, we had set forth the controversy in our order dtd. 23/9/2021. In substance, the plea of the counsel for the appellant was: