‘Drug mules’ often tricked into carrying contraband

Police said Pereira was offered an audition for a web series and given a ‘memento’ to be carried to Sharjah, which had drugs concealed in it, without her knowledge. She was arrested by authorities on finding the drugs.

A similar ordeal was faced by Mumbai-based couple, Mohammed Shariq and Oniba Qureshi, in 2019. Shariq’s aunt, Tabassum, insisted on them taking a holiday and offered to bear their expenses for a trip to Qatar. While leaving, Shariq’s aunt told them to carry a bag for a friend in Doha. The couple visited Doha and were arrested after 4.1 kg of hashish was found concealed in the bag. A criminal trial against them ended in them being found guilty for possession of drugs and they were sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Like in Pereira’s case, the couple found intervention through diplomatic channels after efforts by their families. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) probed the source of the drugs and arrested the couple’s aunt, along with others. Once it was proved that the couple was duped into carrying the bag, they were released, but after being imprisoned for a year and nine months in separate jails. Qureshi even delivered a baby while in jail as she was pregnant during the trip.

The couple’s aunt, Tabassum, and others are currently facing trial under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The NCB found that five other unsuspecting couples were also sent abroad after being duped by the same syndicate between March and July 2019. While denying bail to one of the accused, the court had said the modus operandi of the accused was to engage innocent persons and to send contraband secretly through their bags.

On Monday, a mother of two was among the four accused acquitted by a special court in Mumbai after she spent nearly four years in jail. She had been arrested from the Mumbai airport for carrying a trolley bag which had 2.9 kg of charas concealed in it. The woman, Hyderabad resident Shabana Begum, had said that her husband deserted her and she had two children who were dependent on her. She was asked to travel to Doha with the bag but was not aware of the hidden drugs, she had said in her bail plea in 2019.

The court had then said that since relevant sections of the NDPS Act did not have the words, ‘knowledge or lack of knowledge’, ‘intention or lack of intention’, even being found in possession of drugs was enough to constitute an offence. Lawyer Ayaz Khan, representing Begum, had argued on it being a case of ‘unconscious possession’ of drugs.

In another case, a mother-daughter duo continue to face trial after a bag they were carrying was found to have 1.8 kg of charas at the Mumbai airport in 2019. The women claimed that they were told that it had gold and they travelled with the bag hoping to earn a reward for informing Customs authorities at the airport and tipping them off about the smugglers. They were caught and the contraband was found to be charas, not gold. The court recently rejected their discharge plea, stating that they should have first approached the authorities before laying the trap.
“There are many who are professional carriers but some are innocent persons who are either not aware of concealed drugs or are told that they are carrying items like gold and tobacco. Some are trapped by known persons who seek help in delivering a parcel to a ‘friend’ abroad. It is advisable to not carry any parcel for a person while traveling,” said a NCB official.