Delhi High Court Grants Bail To Foreign National Booked For Drug Trafficking, Notes IO Admitted To Mixing Samples From Different Packets

The Delhi High Court has granted bail to a foreign national, incarcerated for over 4 years in connection with a drug trafficking case.In doing so, Justice Arun Monga noted that the Investigating Officer had himself admitted during cross-examination that the seized substance had been mixed before sampling, making it impossible to identify which packet the samples sent for testing came from or their individual weights. “There is thus doubt on the proof of the tested samples which were represented as a commercial quantity on the whole. Each packet was to be individually tested,” the bench observed.Reliance was placed on Lok Pal Singh v. State of Uttarakhand where the Supreme Court had held that samples from suspected narcotic substances should be extracted from each packet separately and they should not be mixed.The Customs Department had seized the contraband from the Petitioner, a South African national, on his arrival to India back in June 2021.The total material recovered from him weighed 10,500 grams— one packet weighing 10,000 grams approx. and a plastic container weighing 480 grams approx.The field testing kit turned positive for 'heroin', leading to his arrest for offences under Sections 8, 21, 23, and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.The Petitioner argued that the panchnama does not state that substance was taken from each packet to be tested on the field testing kit. It was argued that the law is settled that samples need to be drawn from each of the pieces and sent to FSL, failing which it cannot be said that the accused was found in possession of commercial quantity.State on the other hand argued that the Petitioner possessed a commercial quantity of heroin, attracting an absolute bar on bail under Section 37(1)(b)(ii). Moreover, he being a foreign national, poses a serious flight risk and judicial precedents emphasize societal interest in denying bail to drug traffickers.The Court however said that since the IO admitted to mixing the packets before drawing samples,“Some doubt is casted on the probability of conviction of the applicant/ accused herein in light of the testimony of the Investigating Officer.”As such, it granted bail.Appearance: Mr. Akshay Bhandari, Mr. Anmol Sachdeva, Mr. Janak, Mr. Kushal Kumar and Ms. Megha, Advocates for Petitioner; Mr. Puneett Singhal, SPPCase title: Quentin Decon v. CustomsCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 1250Case no.: BAIL APPLN. 914/2025Click here to read order

Delhi High Court Grants Bail To Foreign National Booked For Drug Trafficking, Notes IO Admitted To Mixing Samples From Different Packets

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