Man gets 10 yrs jail term for carrying heroin in stomach

NEW DELHI: A Nepalese national who was arrested for trying to smuggle 50 heroin capsules, swallowed by him and stocked in his stomach, has been sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment by Delhi court.
    
The convict was arrested minutes before boarding a Bangkok-bound flight from IGI airport eight years ago.
    
Special Judge P S Teji imposed a fine of Rs two lakh on Bal Bahadur Gurung, a resident of Dharding in Nepal, after holding him guilty of carrying commercial quantity of the contraband under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
    
Customs officials apprehended Gurung on January 28, 2000 in the departure hall of the airport after they became suspicious.
    
However, they could not find anything amiss on his personal search. Still, they interrogated him resulting in his admission that he was carrying 51 heroin capsules inside his stomach and can vomit them.
     
He was taken to RML Hospital where he stayed over a week. The officials were taken by surprise as Gurung came out of toilet with 51 heroin capsules, weighing over 650 grams.      

"The Customs have successfully proved that the accused was possessing commercial quantity of contraband and attempted to export the same out of India," the court said.
    
It also rejected the mercy plea of 50-year-old Gurung that he is a father of two daughters and a son and that there was no one to look after them.
    
In his statement, the convict had said an African national had delivered him the banned substances on his arrival from Nepal and had assured him $500 for smuggling them to Bangkok.