India, Sept. 27 -- The Bombay High Court has pulled up Customs and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) over procedural lapses in six international drug-smuggling cases, warning that deficiencies in the way the cases were handled could weaken the prosecutions and ultimately lead to acquittals.

Justice Shyam C Chandak, in a common judgment granting bail to four foreign nationals held for more than four years, found that only two of the six notices served on the accused under Section 50 of the NDPS Act, which requires informing a suspect of the right to be searched before a magistrate or gazetted officer, were properly framed, and that the seized drugs had been handled inconsistently for sampling.

"Such a handling of the legal pr...