PETER ENDY ORUASAH Vs. STATE OF GOA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ORIGINAL accused NO. 1 Peter Endy, a Nigerian National, has filed this appeal challenging the order passed by the Special Judge, NDPS Court, Mapusa, convicting the said Peter Endy under Section 21 of the NDPS Act and sentencing him to undergo R. I. for a term of 10 years and. also to pay a fine of one lakh rupees and in default to undergo one year R. I.

(2.) THE accused NO. 1 alongwith accused No. 2 Charles and accused No. 3 Gloria, a Nigerian couple, were prosecuted by the State through the P. S. I. Fabian DSouza, Assistant to the Antinarcotic Cell, Panaji, under the NDPS Act. Briefly, the prosecution case is that on December 6,1991, the accused No. 1 was appreheded by the police raiding party consisting of P. S. I. DSouza, Superintendent of Police A. K. Singh and other police staff members besides two panch witnesses Alfred Vaz and Sadguru Parab, near Casino Hotel at Porvorim for having been found in possession of some narcotic drugs. In this regard, a separate case was filed against the accused No. 1 being Special Criminal Case No. 22 of 1992, in which he was convicted under Section 27 of the NDPS Act for possession of a small quantity of morphine for personal consumption. During the course of his interrogation in the said case: accused no. I had disclosed that he was staying in Flat No. A 2 on the ground floor at St. Anthonyts Apartment where he had kept some more drugs.

(3.) PURSUANT to the said information, the police raiding party headed by A. K. Singh alongwith aforesaid two panch witnesses Alfred Vaz and Sadguru Parab proceeded alongwith the accused No. 1 to his flat. On reaching his flat, the accused No. 1 knocked the door in response to which the accused No. 3 opened the door and on entering into the house, it was found by the raiding party that the accused No. 2 was sitting in the hall. Then P. S. I. DSouza informed the accused No. 3 that they would like to conduct the search of the house as they had information that the drugs were concealed in the house and that if they got any drugs she may produce before the police raiding party. Thereupon the accused No. 3 took the raiding party and the panches to a bedroom lying adjacent to the kitchen where she removed a blue coloured polythene bag from another bag and handed it over to the P. S. I. DSouza, who opened it and found therein ix transparent polythene packets containing 9. 7 gms. Of Brown Sugar and 7 packets of white powder commonly known as cocaine, which was found weighing 8 gms.