Judgment

Thomas, J.-Leave granted.

2. Appellant had a diplomatic outfit earlier (an honorary officer in the Consulate of Liberia at Mozambique) of which he was subse­quently stripped. He is said to be an Indian citizen as he holds a passport issued from India. He is now facing a charge under Section 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (for short “the NDPS Act”) before a Special Court at Chennai. He moved the trial Court for a discharge under Section 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, but in vain. He then moved the High Court of Madras for quashing the said order of the Special Court. A learned Single Judge of the High Court dismissed his petition as per the impugned order.

3. On 21.4.1994, the Royal Police of the Kingdom of Swaziland (situate adjacent to South Africa and Mozambique) intercepted a container truck carrying nearly 2 1/2 million tablets of “Man­drax”. They were packed in plastic packets of 1000 tablets each and cartoned in slabs consisting of 9 packets each. The contra­band was concealed in packets of electric globes. Mandrax is a high potency narcotic substance, the chemical name of which is “Methaqualone”. As the catch was of a significant quant