MUMBAI, July 21: For the first time the Sessions Court sentenced a drug peddler to 15 years' rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 1.5 lakh while his accomplice was awarded 10 years' rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 1 lakh by the special judge trying cases under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act K U Chandiwal on Tuesday.The accused, Nazeer Sayed Sanadi (32) and Saeed Ahmed alias Mamu Abdul Aziz Shaikh (37), were caught possessing heroin two years ago and charged with conspiracy, possession and transporting the narcotics. Following a tip-off, assistant police inspector Arvind Wadhankar, police sub inspector Suhas Gokhale and staff of the Narcotics Cell laid a trap for Sanadi and Shaikh near Dr Bhute's Nursing Home, Aziz Baug, Mahul, Chembur who had come to delivery the narcotics to their customers on August 18, 1997.The duo were caught with one kilogram of heroin valued at over Rs two lakh in the international market. During interrogation the accused revealed that they hadoriginally come from Madhya Pradesh and named a third accomplice, Sabir Shaikh, who is absconding, according to the special public prosecutor, Ashwin Modi.While Sanadi has been sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment as enhanced punishment since he was already spent 10 years in jail in an earlier narcotic case in Sangli and had completed his sentence, Shaikh has been sentenced to 10 years each on both the charges (conspiracy and possession) which will run concurrently. The duo face a further jail sentence of four months and three months respectively if they defaulted on paying the fines.Earlier, Sanadi was arrested by the Narcotics Cell on two occasions in 1994 and in 1997. While he was tried in the first case and was acquitted in the second.
