Three foreigners caught with 30 kg cocaine jailed for 15 years

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An Anti-Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances court convicted three foreign nationals for transporting, possessing and conspiring to sell nearly 30kg cocaine worth Rs 36 crores in 2012. The accused, identified as Bolivian national Santander Prado (56), Columbian national Juan Rivera (40) and Zahid Mir (59), a British national of Pakistani origin, were sentenced to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment, The Times of India reported.

According to the judge, the trio was conspiring to smuggle and sell cocaine in the country. The special public prosecutor had said that they were also fined Rs 4 lakhs each. They were arrested on February 15, 2012, along with a fourth accomplice, an Indian national named Uday Dhanak (63) who was arrested but acquitted due to lack of evidence against him.

The prosecution submitted to the court that the Narcotics Control Bureau had received a tip-off about two South-African nationals checking into a hotel in Khar with drugs. A raid was conducted at the hotel where Prado and Rivera had checked in. According to the prosecution, while their room was being checked, a bag was found with packets of white powder hidden in shoe boxes. Around 10kg of the powder was recovered from the room. When tested, it was confirmed to be cocaine. The prosecution told the court Mir, who was staying in Saki Naka at that time, gave them the drugs. A search in a flat led to police recovering 20 kg of cocaine that was hidden inside a wooden cupboard.

Dhanak's name had also cropped up during the interrogations after which he is arrested but was acquitted due to leave of evidence. Prado told police that he met a man in Argentina who told him to go to India and handling the business there, after which he entered the country in 2011 and met Mir and Rivera here.

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