( 1 ) BY means of filing this petition under Art. 226 of the constitution, Harish Anand-detenu herein is seeking to challenge the order of detention dated January 17, 1995 issued by respondent No. 3, i. e. , Additional Chief secretary to Government of Gujarat, Home Department (Spl.), under Sec. 3 (1) of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 ("the Act" for short) and prays to issue a writ of habeas corpus directing his release after quashing the detention order.

( 2 ) THE order of detention was executed on January 30, 1995. The communication dated January 17, 1995 which was served on the petitioner at the time of his detention intimated to him the following grounds on which the order of detention was made by the respondent No. 3 : (i) On December 15, 1993, the vessel MSV-AL-BILAL/pbr- 273 arrived at bedi Port, Jamnagar with cargo of wet dates. The usual customs formalities were completed and cargo of wet dates was unloaded. In the meanwhile, officers of DRI received intelligence that ball bearings of foreign origin were concealed in the said vessel. Therefore, the officers of DRI and Customs, Jamnagar rummaged the said vessel on December 16, 1993. They recovered 136 packages containing ball bearings of foreign origin from the two diesel tanks fitted in the said vessel. On examination of those 136 packages 1,98,832 pieces of ball bearings of foreign origin valued at rs. 47,20,970/- were found. Further rummaging of the said vessel on December 17, 1993 resulted in recovery of 55 more packages containing ball bearings of foreign origin which were found concealed in atri (A space between two wooden planks on the border of the vessel ). On examination of those 55 packages, 24,422 pieces of ball bearings of foreign origin valued at Rs. 10,71,068. 00 were found. As Abdul wahab Issa Ker, tindel of the vessel, could not produce any valid documents for the licit import and lawful acquisition of the aforesaid 2,23,254 pieces of ball bearings of foreign origin totally valued at Rs. 57,92,038. 00, the same were seized by the officers of DRI under the reasonable belief that they were smuggled into india and were liable to be confiscated under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. The vessel AL-BILAL was also seized for taking appropriate actions under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. (ii) S/shri (1) Abdul Wahab Issa Ker (tindel), (2) Adam Juma Chamadia, (3) osman Ismail Shaikh, (4) Gulam Husen Umar Turk, (5) Anwar Husen Karim, (6) harun Issak Sodha, (7) Majid Zikar Modi, (8) Aziz Kasam Sameja, (9) Suleman musa Theim, (10) Junus Usman Mokha, (11) Iqbal Issa Ker, (12) Jabbar Issa Ker, (13) Eliyas Haji Hala, and (14) Abdul Ibrahim Theim were the crew members of vessel AL-BILAL at the time of its seizure. (iii) The investigation revealed that Karim Issa Ker was the owner of the vessel msv-AL-BILAL PBR-273 and his younger brother Abdul Wahab Issa Ker was the tindel of the said vessel. The said vessel had left with cargo of live-stock from tuna Port on November 23, 1993 and reached Hamriya Port on November 28, 1993. The tindel, i. e. , Abdul Wahab arranged cargo of wet dates of Jamnagar. Meanwhile, abdul Wahab Issa Ker met one Ali Raja (Jamnagarwala) at Dubai and finalised deal to smuggle ball bearings from Dubai to India on consideration of 10,000 dirhams. Ali Raja paid 7,000 Dirhams as an advance and informed tindel Abdul wahab to wait for the telephonic message after reaching Salaya. 60 packages of ball bearings were loaded in the said vessel at Hamriya Port with the help of crew of the vessel. The vessel sailed on December 2, 1993 with the cargo of wet dates as well as ball bearings. The packages of ball bearings were torn and converted into smaller packages by the crew members and the same were concealed in the diesel tank as well as in Atri. The vessel reached at Rozi Port near Jamnagar on december 14, 1993. During the usual custom formalities, the tindel declared the