1 AN IN DEPTH STUDY OF AN ESCAPE FROM INDIA by Rabbi Dr. Chaim Simons Kiryat Arba, Israel
[email protected] 2012 © Copyright. Chaim Simons. 2012 2 3 NOTE TO THE READER Needless to say, this book should not be taken as an endorsement for drug smuggling. It is a very serious crime. However, there have been a number of cases where highly respected people with good hearts, were asked to take a suit case to another country, which they were told contained, for example, clothes, but completely unknown to the carriers, drugs had been secreted in the suit case. This has often resulted in these innocent carriers finding themselves in jail and then being put on trial, often after several years of incarceration. Should, however, after a fair trial, a person be found guilty of knowingly smuggling drugs, that person should, unquestionably be punished accordingly. 4 5 Ronen Dvash, then a young Israeli in his early 30s, married and one young daughter, was arrested at Mumbai airport in June 2004, on suspicion of trying to smuggle drugs into India. Whether in fact this was the case, or he was just an innocent person carrying for someone as a favour a suitcase whose contents he was unaware of, is outside the scope of this book. What is relevant is that a person suspected of committing any crime is entitled as a basic human right to a speedy trial. Periodically, during the course of Ronen’s incarceration, he was taken to the courthouse, but instead of the judge arranging for a trial, he was repeatedly remanded.