NEW DELHI, January 29: A briton has been held guilty of illegally possessing 122 gm of cocaine. Twenty-nine-year-old Emma Charlotte Eve from Sussex has been sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and directed to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh.Additional Sessions Judge Indermit Kochchar reduced the punishment ``in view of Eve's age''.She was arrested on April 19, 1996 at Shiva Guest House in Paharganj. The police arrested her after they seized cocaine from her room in the guest house. According to the prosecution, Eve had gone to collect a parcel at General Post Office, Delhi at 10.15 a.m. on April 19.The parcel addressed to Elizabeth Evan was given to Eve after she reportedly submitted a written application which said the parcel was for her and the sender had addressed it to somebody else by mistake.Since the Narcotics Control Bureau was already tipped off about the parcel, they raided Eve's room as soon as she reached the guest house.According to bureau officials, two parcels containing 250 gm of cocaine had been intercepted at Frankfurt Airport. They were reportedly sent from a person in Santa Marta in Columbia, South America. While one parcel was destined for Goa, the other was addressed to Delhi.Thereafter, the German authority flashed a message to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) here and the latter in turn informed the Postal Authority.Charges were framed against Eve on December 6, 1996 under Section 21 and 23 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The prosecution deposed 22 witnesses in court. During the arguments, special prosecutor Satish Aggarwal, cited: ``The case is proved beyond doubt because it was a control delivery operation and she imported the drugs into the country by means of postal parcel''.In her defence, Eve said she had been falsely implicated. She told the court she is a social worker and had gone to the postal office to inquire about a parcel sent by her father. She claimed she had returned the parcel to the postal officer when she realised that it was not addressed to her.Although she accused the NCB of forcing the parcel on her, she was unable to give evidence to prove her claim.
