'No regrets': How Salford dad Baz survived ten years in India's toughest jails
14.04.2024 - 16:19
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
As Barry Hulse walked into the number eight barracks at the maximum security Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai his mind reeled. Awaiting trial for drugs smuggling offences, he'd been locked up with hardcore addicts, terrorists and some of India's most ruthless gangsters.
It was a far cry from his life as a dad and factory worker in Salford. "What I saw was an utter nightmare," said Barry. "It was almost like a slum; plastic bags and everyone's belongings were hung on the wall.
"Each floor had over 200 prisoners even though the capacity was 80. People were lying on the floor in groups. A person was having a fit; I saw foam coming out of his mouth. It was very disturbing sight to see, but the people were dealing with it as if it was usual."
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A keen traveller, Baz as he was known, was a regular visitor to Goa, where he was having an apartment built. But on November 21, 2009 he was stopped at Dabolim airport by customs officers from Mumbai.
"We'd like you to come with us for some questions," they said. It was the moment his life came 'crashing down'.
Two years earlier the authorities had seized three packages bound for the UK with Barry's details on them. Inside were 75,000 diazepam tablets.
The authorities had been searching for the dad-of-one ever since. Barry says he was tricked by a 'so-called' friend who, having promised to post presents bought from a market in Goa back to the UK for him, instead sent the massive shipment of sleeping tablets under his name.
It was the start of a nightmare that would last almost 10 years. The Arthur Road Jail is one of the most notorious and overcrowded in India.
Built in the 1920s, it's been criticised by