( 1 ) OM Prokash Modi, the petitioner in this petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus under Art. 226 of the Constitution, is detained by an order dt. Sept. 19,1984 passed by a Joint Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue ). The order was passed in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sub-sec. (1) of S. 3 of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 ('cofeposa' for short) with a view to preventing the petitioner from smuggling goods, abetting the smuggling of goods and engaging in transporting smuggled goods. The sum and substance of the grounds of detention communicated to the petitioner, which run through 39 pages, are as under : on the basis of a secret information the Customs Officers of the Diamond Harbour Preventive Unit intercepted one jeep and one white Ambassador car at Kulpimore, 65 Kms. south of Calcutta, on Mar. 29, 1984. The vehicles were coming from Kakdwip, a place "30 Kms south of Kulpimore, towards Calcutta. There was another chocolate coloured Ambassador car at some distance behind those two vehicles which fled away towards Kakdwip on seeing the Custo