3,300 kg of drugs seized off Gujarat coast; 5 foreign nationals arrested
Indian agencies on Wednesday… Highest ever drug bust They seized 3,300 kg of drugs from the sea, which had arrived from an Iranian port near the Gujarat coast, and arrested five foreigners from a dhow. Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Director General SN Pradhan said that the value of this cash in the international market could be between Rs 1,300 to Rs 2,000 crore.
The unregistered fishing boat was intercepted on Tuesday morning in the Arabian Sea, about 60 nautical miles off the Indian coast and from a point near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL). The Navy deployed its P8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft and marine commandos on a warship, apart from helicopters, newswire PTI reported.
About 3,300 kg of contraband including 3,110 kg of charas or hashish, 158.3 kg of crystal methamphetamine and 24.6 kg of suspected heroin have been recovered from the packets which are stamped with “.Ras Awad Goods Company‘Produce of Pakistan’, NCB said.
There is no standard for calculating the price of medicines as it varies depending on the quantity, quality, region and demand and supply links. However, according to the NCB, a rough estimate is that the international price of hashish is Rs 5-10 lakh per kg and the international price of meth (methamphetamine) and heroin is Rs 2-5 crore per kg.
The source of the drugs has been found Chabahar port in Iran, the agency said. “This is the largest ever offshore narcotics seizure in the country. We have seen that drug smuggling through sea route has increased in the last few years and hence we are in collaboration with other government agencies like Navy, Coast Guard, Customs Working jointly with agencies etc. to stop such activities,” Pradhan said.
“Smugglers and drug operators use the Arabian Sea to exploit the vulnerable Indian coastline. This is part of a grand plan to destabilize the country using drugs,” Pradhan said.
The last major seizure from the high seas was of 2,500 kg by the NCB and Navy off the Kerala coast in May, 2023.
NCB said it has started talking to its foreign counterparts to investigate the back and forth links of this consignment.
NCB Deputy Director General (Operations) Gyaneshwar Singh said the fishing boat has been brought to Porbandar and five foreign nationals aboard have been arrested. “They could be either Pakistani or Iranian. However, we have not recovered any ID from them. One Thuraya satellite phone and four mobile phones have been seized from these people,” Singh said.
The DDG said that the medicine packets bear the name of a Pakistani food company and hence they ‘suspect’ the involvement of that country in amassing this cache, the destination of which is being investigated.
NCB officials said smugglers on ships carrying drugs get in touch with buyers on land and once they strike a deal, the consignment can land anywhere up to the southernmost tip of India.
DDG Singh said the operation was codenamed ‘Sagarmanthan-1’ and joint teams have been working on inputs for the ‘last few weeks’.
“This seizure of drugs is the largest ever in terms of quantity, and was made possible through the collaborative efforts of #mission-deployed assets of the #IndianNavy with the NCB,” the Navy said in a post on Twitter. “
The NCB Director General said tackling drug trafficking was a task as the stock had increased after the installation of the new government in Afghanistan, while Myanmar (in the eastern part of India) was a record supplier. (With inputs from PTI)