Legal principle

Where a passenger admits that goods are hidden inside his body and voluntarily submits, recovery through hospital purging with a Magistrate's order is covered by Section 103(6) and (8) of the Customs Act, and the usual step of producing him first before a Magistrate is not required.

Court decision

The High Court granted bail. It found a prima facie case of smuggling, held that the search and recovery were covered by sub-sections (6) and (8) of Section 103 of the Customs Act, and left the Section 50 NDPS and sampling defects to be decided at trial. But because the applicant had been in jail over four years with no progress in trial, he was released on a personal bond of Rs. 2,00,000 with sureties, reporting to DRI twice a month and surrendering his passport.

Facts

Isma Opaka Wandera, a foreign passenger, arrived at Mumbai airport on Kenya Airways flight KQ 202 on 17.07.2022. Acting on intelligence from DRI Hyderabad, officers of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of customs stopped him at the green channel. He admitted he had swallowed drug capsules and was in severe pain, so officers took him straight to J.J. Hospital. On an application under Section 103 of the Customs Act, a Magistrate allowed his medical detention. Between 17.07.2022 and 19.07.2022 he passed 91 capsules holding about 1101.8 grams of powder, later found by the Customs Laboratory, Vadodara to contain cocaine, heroin, codeine, morphine and caffeine. He was charged under the NDPS Act and, after more than four years in jail, applied to the Bombay High Court for bail.

Key provisions

• Section 103(6), Customs Act, 1962 — Power to screen or X-ray bodies of suspected persons for detecting secreted goods