CHENNAI: A special court in Chennai sentenced a 24-year-old man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for purchasing ecstacy pills from online using bitcoins.

The first additional special court under NDPS Act, Chennai has found the accused guilty under sections 8(c)r/w 22(c) and 8(c)r/w 23(c) of NDPS Act. Hence, the court sentenced the accused 10 years of rigorous imprisonment with Rs.100000 as fine.

On June 15, 2020, the Chennai customs officers received a secret information that a parcel containing narcotics is tracking from Netherland to Chennai airport.

On the basis of the information the customs team intercepted a package from Netherland, consigned to Krishnakanth, MR residency, Bhimavaram, Andhrapradesh.

According to the customs officials the package contains 176 grams of MDMA (Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) a psychedelic substance, under a game box.

When the customs team tracked the address found in the package, the residence found locked. With the assistance of local police in Bhimavaram, Andhrapradesh the customs team found that Kurella Bhanu Chandar and his family was stayed there previously, since they vacated from there, the place was left empty.

After the customs investigated with Kurella Bhanu Chander, he accepted that he purchased the narcotics, said the prosecution.

The accused denied the accusations before the court. The counsel for the accused argued that he was implicated in this case merely because he was once stayed in the residence mentioned in the seized parcel.

However the court found the accused guilty and sentenced him to jail for 10 years.