Mumbai couple convicted in drug case in Qatar returns home
Mumbai-based couple Oniba and Sharique Qureshi, who was sentenced to ten years in jail in a drug case in Qatar in 2019, returned to the city on Thursday with their minor daughter. A Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) official said the couple landed at the Mumbai Airport at 2:30 am. The couple was arrested at Hamad International Airport in Qatar in July 2019.
A relative of the couple used them to transport drugs
The couple was arrested after Qatari authorities recovered 4.1 kg of hashish in their bag. They had been cleared of all charges after it came to light that a relative planted narcotics in their bag without their knowledge. "It later came to light that Sharique's aunt, Tabassum Qureshi, had used them to transport drugs. The trip had been sponsored by Tabassum," the official said.
Couple's family members approached the Indian Government
At that time, while Sharique was employed with a Japanese company, Oniba had just learnt that she was pregnant. She delivered a girl, Aayat, in jail last February. The couple's family members approached the Indian Government, asking it to intervene in the matter.
Mumbai Police had recovered 13 gram cocaine from Tabassum
When the couple's families found Sharique's phone which had recorded several conversations where Tabassum could be heard terming a parcel as gutkha, they approached Mumbai Police and she was arrested, according to TOI. An NCB official told TOI that revelations were made in the case after Mumbai Police arrested Tabassum and his associate Nizam Kara and recovered 13 g of cocaine from them.
Family challenged the lower court order; couple was eventually cleared
"NCB questioned the duo and found that they were drug peddlers with links to traffickers in the Middle East," the NCB official had said. Following this, the NCB got in touch with the authorities in Qatar and the family challenged the lower court order convicting the couple. Eventually, the couple was cleared of all charges.
