Hyderabad: Nigerian peddlers launch legal battle
Smugglers claim that their detention is illegal.
Hyderabad: Nigerian drug smugglers have taken up a legal battle against Hyderabad police for detaining them under the Preventive Detention Act.
Nigerian Obiora Chukuemeka Peter, 23, has filed a habeas corpus writ in the Hyderabad High Court to declare his detention as illegal and to free him from the Chanchalaguda prison. Peter hails from Achala Awka North of Anambra state in Nigeria.
Claiming that he was engaged in business and is a resident of Mapuso in Goa, Peter alleged that his detention was illegal, arbitrary, and that it violates the fundamental rights guaranteed by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
He requested the court to quash proceedings under the Preventive Detention Act. Police said the drug smuggler was detained to prevent the dangerous activities of pushers who fall in the same group as bootleggers, dacoits, goondas, immoral traffickers and land grabbers under the Preventive Detention Act.
Hyderabad police commissioner M. Mahendar Reddy issued orders under the PD Act on September 10, 2016 against four drug smugglers who are citizens of Nigeria after they were arrested under the Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in August 2016.
The Nigerian drug smugglers Ugochukwu Solomon Ubabuko, Obiora Chukwuemeka Peter, Ezeh Christian Chuku and Uzor Promise Chukuwudi were found purchasing cocaine from Goa and supplying it to their customers in Hyderabad.
The city police commissioner said in his order, “The peddling of narcotic drugs in Hyderabad have been endangering youth. Drugs cause irreparable damage to the central nervous system and cripples the mental and physical health of those who are addicted to them. It makes normal life impossible. This adversely affects public health and leaves large sections of people in shock and fear.”