NCB scripts happy ending to int’l crime drama: Qatar drops drug charges, Mumbai couple returns home

Ramzan couldnrsquot have begun on a happier note for the families of Mohammed Shareeq and his wife Oniba Qureshi The couple spent nearly two years in Qatar in a drug case after they were trapped by a relative Acquitted last week they were expected to arrive in Mumbai on Wednesday nightAayat now oneandahalf years old was born in a Qatari jailAs per the Narcotics Control Bureau this is perhaps the first instance of a foreign court relying on an investigation by an Indian agency Speaking to midday from Doha airport Shareeq said NCB officers came in as messiahs for themMohammed Ali residents Mohammed Shareeq and his wife Oniba Qureshi both 29 went to Qatar on July 6 2019 for their second honeymoon which was sponsored by Shareeqrsquos aunt sister of his father After they landed at Hamad International Airport Doha antidrug officers recovered 41 kg of hashish from their luggage The two were sentenced to 10 years in jail apart from a fine of 3 lakh Riyals in November that year marking a painful struggle for their familiesldquoI stayed in Qatar for 15 months to seek justice My son explained that my own sister Tabassum forced him to go for the honeymoon and despite his refusal she booked tickets and gave him a bag which had the drug She had told him that it has some zarda tobacco and someone would collect it from him at Doha airportrdquo Shareeqrsquos father Mohammed Sharif told middayldquoIt was Allahrsquos miracle that the authorities gave us all his belongings My son worked for a Korean firm and would keep his phone on auto recording mode He told me the proof of his innocence was in his mobile The recording showed he was refusing to go on the honeymoon I hired a lawyer there and made dozens of trips between Doha and Mumbai to arrange for money for the expensive legal battlerdquo he saidMeanwhile Onibarsquos father Shakeel Ahmed Qureshi filed a complaint with Rakesh Asthana DG of NCB in September 2019 alleging that his daughter and soninlaw had been tricked by Shareeqrsquos aunt Tabassum Riyaz Qureshi and her associate Nizam KaraThe NCB asked its Joint Director KPS Malhotra to probe the allegations ldquoAfter going through the papers and audio clips we found that the couple was tapped by a drug syndicaterdquo Malhotra told middayThe NCB then took up the matter through diplomatic channels ldquoWe found that a well organised syndicate was being run by Nizam Kara and Tabassumrdquo said MalhotraThe Mumbai police chipped in with its own probe It arrested Kara and Tabassum in December 2019 and seized 13 grams of cocaine from them In February 2020 NCB confiscated 14 kg of charas in Chandigarh and arrested four persons working at the behest of Kara and his wife ShaheedaThe NCB submitted a dossier of its and Mumbai policersquos findings to the Indian Embassy which moved the Court of Cassation the highest court in Qatar in January this year The top court accepted the couplersquos argument and returned the case to the appeal courtThe lower court on March 29 cleared the couple of all charges and set them free ldquoThis has never happened in the history of Qatar judicial system where a person convicted in a drug case has been acquitted based on the investigation carried out by an Indian agencyrdquo said advocate Nizar Kochery who represented the couple in Qatar adding ldquoThis was next to impossible because Qatar has stringent laws against drugsrdquoMalhotra too agreed that it was a difficult challenge ldquoWhen we took this case everyone was saying this is impossible This was one of the most satisfying investigations of my entire career and I owe this to my team and media who equally helped in raising the samerdquo he addedThanking the government and NCB Sharif said ldquoI cannot explain the kind of pain I have gone through First my son and daughterinlaw were trapped by my own sister then seeing them in a prison What forced us to go through unimaginable trauma is when we heard that my Oniba delivered a baby girl in the prisonrdquoThe couplersquos baby was born on February 26 last year and they have named her Aayat Qureshi ldquoDuring these days my son never saw his daughter Last Thursday he called me from the prison and cried a lot saying lsquopapa mai afraaz hogayarsquo He was later reunited with his wife and daughter by members of the Indian Embassy If everything goes well they will land in Mumbai tonightrdquo he saidOnibarsquos mother Parveen Kausar said they are indebted to the government and NCB ldquoI was just dreaming to see my granddaughter one day and now this has become a realityrdquolsquoHolding baby for first timersquoSpeaking to midday from Doha airport Shareeq said ldquoWe have never thought that we will walk out of the prison but we had faith in God because we did nothing wrong The NCB officers are like messiah for us especially Malhotra sir and his team After two years I am meeting my wife and holding my daughter for the first timerdquo