Those that certainly didn’t get away were the Customs officials. All five officials accused, including then additional collector of Customs Somnath Thapa, have been convicted by the special TADA court, sparing no government hand that allowed arms to be smuggled into the country.

The charges ranged from ignoring information of the arms landing to facilitating the crime. The line of crime ran top-down, right from the big fish to his last subordinate.

SOMNATH THAPA

(then Additional Collector)

His was the most difficult case to prove as there was no direct evidence against him. The accusation against Thapa is that in spite of getting information about the landing at Shekhadi and that the main exit point could be in Mhasla Shrivardhan area, he laid a trap at Purarphata on Mhasla-Goregaon road on January 30. Besides that, his team gave up the vigil after February 2 in spite of the warnings. The arms and ammunition landed on February 3 and 7, 1993.

Being a central government employee, it was difficult to raid his house without the help of senior police officials. Nothing incriminating was recovered from him. A confession under TADA had not been recorded. Only two officers, who had given the evidence, deposed against him. The court, however, took the evidence on record and convicted him under section 3.

R K Singh (Asst Commissioner) & MS Sayyed (Superintendent)

Singh, who was posted in Alibaug division, had Sayyed’s confession going against him. Sayyed had told police that Singh and he met Mohammed Dossa and his associates and fixed a bribe more than Rs 7.8 lakh. Sayyed had also graphically described how landing agent Dadabhai Phanse’s son, Sarfaraz, gave Singh a packet of Rs 3 lakh in cash of which Singh gave him Rs 50, 000. Singh met Phanse and Uttam Potdar, another smuggler, later.

... contd.