Mangaluru : The principal districts and sessions court, the designated NDPS court, on Thursday, awarded five years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh on a 22-year-old on charges of attempting to take ganja to a foreign country.

Pradeep Kumar, a resident of Manjeshwar in Kasargod, was caught carrying 1kg ganja valued at Rs 80,000 at the Mangalore International Airport on October 20, 2017. Pradeep was scheduled to travel to Bahrain when officials from the Customs department and personnel of Air India found that he was in the possession of ganja concealed in four packets.

A K Chaudhury, the then assistant commissioner of Customs at the airport, detained Pradeep and handed him over to the police from Bajpe station, along with the seized substance.

T D Nagaraj, then inspector at the Bajpe police station, filed and submitted the chargesheet to the court. The prosecution examined a total 9 witnesses, including officials and staff of the Customs department and Air India. As many as 20 documents were produced, said public prosecutor K Pushparaja Adyanthaya.

Former judge K S Beelagi heard the case under the NDPS Act and incumbent judge K S Narayana delivered the verdict.

Pradeep will have to face an additional six months imprisonment for defaulting on fine.