PANJIM: As the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Goa begins tightening the noose around repeat drug offenders, the fate of Agisilaos hangs in balance as he could face a jail term of up to a year under the Prevention of Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act.
Herald has learnt through sources that the PITNDPS Cell in Delhi recently approved NCB Goa’s proposal to detain the South African national for a year in order to curb his illegal activities.
An order was issued. But in what could be movie plot-like twist, when the NCB reached his villa in Pernem in September 2021, Agisilaos was allegedly found with 32.8 gms of hashish. He was arrested for the offence but the alleged peddler took the opportunity to move the High Court of Bombay at Goa seeking a review of the preventive detention order.
“In all, Agisilaos has three cases against him. He could have been detained on the same day we reached his residence with the order copy but since he was found with narcotics, our team decided to book a fresh FIR against him and thereafter take him into custody under PITNDPS,” an official said.
The alleged drug peddler, who shuttles between Maharashtra and Goa quite often, soon filed a plea before the High Court to quash the PITNDPS order. The matter is pending hearing.
His name first cropped up in actor Sushant Singh Rajput case in 2020 that saw at least 35 persons arrested during the high profile investigation.
Agisilaos was caught with a small quantity of hashish following a raid at a resort in Lonavala but his alleged close connections with the drug cartel, besides evidence of drug transactions landed him in jail. He thereafter secured bail, however, he was not released as NCB had filed a FIR in another drug-related matter. He was arrested for questioning. The case was related to Kshitij Prasad, former executive producer of Dharmatic Entertainment, who was arrested by NCB in a case involving recovery of cocaine from a Nigerian national in Mumbai.
In December 2020, the actor’s kin was bailed out.
“There are various chats related to drug consumption, procurement, usage and transportation in all the three cases. NCB will present the case with evidence,” sources said. In one of these cases, he was arrested under Section 27 (Punishment for financing illicit traffic and harbouring offender) which is considered the most stringent section of the NDPS Act.
Agisilaos is presently on bail and is pursuing the matter in the high court with next hearing tentatively scheduled next week.
The first arrest under the PITNDPS Act is that of Nigerian national Ugochukwu Solomon Ubabuko, whose jail term is two years considering the seriousness of his involvement in the drug cartel business.
