13 years on, high court allows Bolivians to fly back home

The Bombay High Court (HC) on Wednesday directed the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to determine whether two Bolivian nationals, who were acquitted in an alleged drug dealing case by the HC in May 2024, could travel back to Bolivia. The NCB is set to grant travel permissions to the duo this week.

In 2014, the two Bolivian nationals, Juan Rivera and Santander Prado were convicted by a sessions court of transporting, processing and conspiring to sell 30kg of cocaine worth nearly ₹36 crore. Due to lack of evidence, the two were acquitted by the high court in 2024.

“The duo were caught with a huge amount of cocaine and were convicted by the Mumbai sessions court. However, the high court acquitted them in 2024 due to improper collection of evidence by the Narcotics Control Bureau. However, the NCB kept denying travel permissions to the duo citing the department’s right to appeal against the acquittal,” Ashwini Achari, the duo’s advocate, said.

Rivera and Prado were held with 10kg of cocaine packed in small packets in 2012 when NCB raided a hotel where the two were checked in. 20kg of cocaine were subsequently found in an accomplice’s flat.

“However, after the seizure, the authorities failed to extract samples before a magistrate as required by law,” said Achari and further adding, “since then the legal position has changed and an acquittal in drug seizures cannot be granted on a mere failure to draw samples before a magistrate. The NCB citing this legal position kept the duo’s travel permissions in abeyance since May 2024.”

Rivera and Padro, through Tarak Sayed and his team consisting of Ashwini Achari and Alisha Parekh, decided to approach the high court seeking directions to NCB to decide their applications for travel back home. On Wednesday, a division-bench comprising justices Revati Mohite-Dere and justice Dr Neela Gokhale were hearing the plea by the South Americans. The NCB will now grant travel permissions to the duo this week.