300kg heroin found on Lankan boat: NCB

The heroin was found concealed inside the water tank of the vessel in 301 packets, the NCB said.

The Indian Coast Guard on Thursday seized a Sri Lankan fishing vessel off the coast of Vizhinjam in Kerala from which 300kg heroin, five AK-47 rifles and 1,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition were recovered, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said in a statement on Tuesday.

All the six Sri Lankan crew members were taken into custody on Saturday and they have been remanded to judicial custody. (Getty Images | Representational image)

The heroin was found concealed inside the water tank of the vessel in 301 packets, the NCB said. “The vessel was brought to Vizhinjam harbour and NCB Chennai Zonal Unit took over the custody of the boat. A number of incriminating documents were also seized from the occupants of the vessel.”

“Image of a flying horse was found on all the heroin packets, which is a usual practice of drug trafficking syndicates to brand their drugs. Further, investigations so far indicate that an unknown vessel carried the Heroin and arms consignment from Chabahar Port, Iran and handed over the same to Sri Lankan fishing boat Ravihansi in the high seas near Lakshadweep,” read an NCB statement.

All the six Sri Lankan crew members -- LY Nandana, HKGB Dassppriya, AHS Gunasekara, SA Senarath, T Ranasingha and D Nissanka – were taken into custody on Saturday and they have been remanded to judicial custody.

“The intelligence inputs and the investigations so far indicate that a Pakistan based drug trafficking network is involved in the current seizure. There have been seizures of huge quantity heroin in the Arabian Sea by both Indian as well as other enforcement agencies which are believed to have trafficked by the same network. This seizure also unveils the nexus between narcotics trafficking and extremist elements,” the NCB said.