Maldivian sentenced to ten years in India on drug charge

A City Court in Bangalore, India, has sentenced a Maldivian to ten years in prison in relation to a crime of drug trade.

Indian news outlet Bangalore Mirror reported that the court sentenced 28-year-old Ajouth Mohamed along with two Indian nationals.

They reported that a Central Crime Branch team had arrested Ajouth Mohamed, Banwarilal and Chetan Saxena from a lodge with 500 grams of heroin on Balepete main road here on 7 February 2012.

According to the investigators, Banwarilal from Rajasthan and Chetan Saxena from Madhya Pradesh were involved in heroin smuggling in north India and have been arrested in the past under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in Bhopal and Rajasthan. They were trying to use Ajouth as a courier and smuggle the narcotic consignment from Bangalore when the investigators raided them at Srinidhi lodge based on a tip off in 2012.

The seized heroin is estimated to be worth over Rs 600,000.