Cruise ship raid case: Mumbai court sends Nigerian national to NCB custody till Oct 11

Mumbai Esplanade Metropolitan Magistrate court on Friday sent Nigerian national Chinedu Igwe to Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) custody till October 11, in the case related to the drug seizure following a raid at a party on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast.

Earlier on Thursday, NCB informed that a total of 18 arrests, including that of a Nigerian national, have been made in the case.

The Nigerian national had been arrested with 40 tablets of Ecstasy, as per the NCB.

An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2 night. Eight persons including Aryan Khan, Arbaz Seth Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha, Vikrant Chhoker, Ismeet Singh, Nupur Sarika, Gomit Chopra, and Mohak Jaswal were produced before Mumbai's Esplanade Court earlier which remanded them to NCB custody till October 7.

On Thursday, they were again produced before the court which then remanded them to judicial custody. Today, the court also rejected the bail pleas of Aryan Khan, Arbaz Seth Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha.

They were arrested on October 3 in connection with the drug seizure on the cruise ship.

As per the NCB, eight persons have been booked under Section 8C, 20B, 27 (Punishment for consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance), 35 (Presumption of culpable mental state) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act), 28 and 29.8C of NDPS Act refers to prohibition to produce, manufacture, possess, sell, purchase, transport, warehouse, use, consume, import inter-State, export inter-State, import into India, export from India or tranship any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance while Section 20B deals with punishment for producing, manufacturing, possessing, selling, purchasing, transportation, imports inter-State, exports inter-State or use of cannabis.

Satish Maneshinde, the lawyer arguing in defence of Aryan Khan said in the Court, "Accused number 1, Aryan Khan was invited for the cruise party. However, he did not have a boarding pass. He didn't have any seats or cabins there. Secondly, according to the seizure, nothing has been found in his possession. He is arrested only based on chats."

NCB has also arrested Abdul Qadir Sheikh, Shreyas Nair, Manish Darya, Avin Sahu among others.

( With inputs from ANI )

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