MAPUSA
A 53-year-old British national was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for possessing narcotics by a Mapusa court.
The NDPS court convicted the accused, Allan Bainbridge, a resident of Bamanwado-Anjuna, and awarded him a minimum sentence of 10 years RI and Rs 1 lakh fine for possessing 6.6 gms of LSD liquid and 11.4 gms of brown sugar (MDMA) under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act for illegal possession of commercial quantity of drugs.
On default of paying the fine, the accused will have to serve further one year of simple imprisonment.
According to the prosecution, the accused was arrested at his residence at Bamanwado-Anjuna on May 17, 2014.
Public Prosecutor, A Talaulikar, said that 6.6 gms of LSD liquid and 11.4 gms of brown sugar was found in the refrigerator at the residence of the accused in the ANC raid conducted by the police.
The prosecution examined six witnesses during the trial, including CFSL chemical analyser, Dr Deepak Meddha; scientific assistant, Gaurish Mapari and retired SP and then DySP of ANC, Vaman Tari.
The prosecution proved that the seized substances sent to the CFSL Hyderabad tested positive for LSD and MDMA of commercial quantities. It also proved that the accused was consciously in possession of the contraband substances.
In his defence, the accused said he was not in exclusive possession of the house and the defence advocate submitted that the burden to prove exclusive possession was with the prosecution.
“The accused stands convicted of the offence punishable under Section 8 (c) read with Section 22 (c) of the NDPS Act 1985 for being found in illegal possession of LSD liquid and MDMA (Brown Sugar) in commercial quantities,” the court order said.
Anuradha Talaulikar was the Public Prosecutor, while R Naik was the defence lawyer.
