Drugs-on-Cruise Case: Aryan Khan was arrested along with his friend Arbaaz Merchant and six others.

New Delhi:

Aryan Khan and all other accused in the drugs-on-cruise case are connected and their roles cannot be separated, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) says in its reply to a court that will decide on the bail request of Shah Rukh Khan’s son.

Aryan Khan – Accused No. 1 for the NCB – sourced drugs and was in touch with “some persons abroad who appear to be a part of an International Drug Network for illicit procurement of drugs”, the anti-drugs agency has said in the statement that has yet to be submitted in court.

All those arrested “are inextricably connected with each other” and “it is not possible to dissect the role, involvement of one accused from that of the other”, NCB says.

“The ingredients of conspiracy are clear and evident,” says its reply to the court, adding that “one of the applicants cannot be considered in isolation”.

No drugs were found on Aryan Khan when the anti-drugs agency’s officers raided a Mumbai cruise ship party in disguise on October 3. But the NCB says that does not undermine their role.

“Even though from some accused persons there is no recovery or recovery of small quantity of contraband, the participation by acts and omissions of such persons who have acted in concert, conspiracy in the commission of offences forms the basis of this investigation,” said the statement.

The situation was such that “the quantum of recovery from an individual accused becomes inconsequential”.

Aryan Khan, 23, was arrested along with his friend Arbaaz Merchant and six others after the ship drugs raid.

His lawyers, while seeking bail, have repeatedly stressed that no drugs were found on him, but the agency says it has evidence that he used to source them.

The NCB says, “Accused no 1 has a role in so far as illicit procurement and distribution of contraband is concerned… It is prima facie revealed that Aryan Khan used to procure contraband from Accused no 2 (Arbaaz). And sourced connected to Accused no 2 from whose conscious possession (shoes) 6 grams of charas was recovered. Aryan and Arbaaz have been associated in close collaboration.”