Cruise ship drug bust: Aryan Khan's bail plea to come up today, NCB makes another arrest

Arbaz Merchant has moved two applications. The bail application has claimed that there was not enough evidence to keep him under custody. The second application seeks CCTV footage of the cruise raid from 11:30 AM to 8 PM.

<P><I>Image: Aryan Khan at the NCB office in Mumbai</I></P>

The Narcotics Control Bureau made its 18th arrest in the cruise ship drug bust case.

A foreign national has been arrested from suburban Bandra and Mephedrone was recovered in commercial quantity from him. 

According to NCB officials, the arrest was made on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, it is a crucial day for Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan whose NCB custody ends today and a Mumbai court will decide upon the 23-year-old's bail plea around 2 pm. Besides Aryan Khan, the Esplanade Road court will also take up the bail hearing of his close friend Arbaz Merchant and others.

During the last hearing, Aryan's lawyer Advocate Satish Maneshinde had contended that no drugs were found in the possession of his client and that he did not know about the drug dealings that were happening onboard the cruise ship from Mumbai to Goa.

Arbaz has filed two applications in court. 

The first -- his bail application -- has claimed that there was not enough evidence to keep him under custody. He has also moved an application seeking CCTV footage of the cruise raid from 11:30 AM to 8 PM. 

The application claims that the CCTV footage will prove that Arbaz was not possessing any drugs. 

The NCB, on the other hand, claimed that it had incriminating evidence against the accused. Citing WhatsApp chats and photos, the agency claimed that he was allegedly in touch with peddlers to procure drugs. 

The NCB has conducted several operations since the cruise raid and arrested a number of people in the case. 

NCB sources have suggested that they may seek an extension of custody of some of the accused.