Cocaine worth ₹1,000 crore seized off Mundra coast in joint Coast Guard-Gujarat ATS operation

ATS got intel that cocaine from Brazil aboard cargo vessel Europe was to be offloaded near Mundra and ferried by fishing boat to Delhi.

Updated on: May 27, 2026, 15:26:54 IST

By Maulik Pathak

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Around 118 kg of cocaine worth an estimated ₹1,000 crore was seized from a cargo vessel off the Mundra coast in Gujarat’s Kutch district after the ship was intercepted by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), with three foreign nationals arrested in connection with the case, officers said on Wednesday.

The operation was carried out on the intervening night of May 25 and 26, following specific intelligence inputs shared by ATS Gujarat about narcotics smuggling through the maritime route. (Representational image/AFP File)

“A ship was intercepted at the outer anchorage at Mundra Port and about five bags carrying around 118 kg of cocaine were seized. Two foreign nationals had brought the consignment on the ship for delivery to a Tanzanian national and a Ugandan national in Delhi,” Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) KLN Rao said.

How was the operation carried out?

The ATS had received intelligence that a cocaine consignment from Brazil was to be offloaded near Mundra on Tuesday. The consignment was being transported aboard the cargo vessel ‘Europe’ by crew members and was to be transferred at sea to a fishing boat before being taken to Delhi.

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The officers observed two crew members throwing bags into the sea on spotting the approaching team. “Five floating bags were recovered from the water. A total of 115 packets weighing 118.977 kg were seized from the bags, and samples tested positive for cocaine using a drug detection kit. Four Apple AirTags were also found concealed inside the consignment,” an officer said, adding that two Garmin GPSMAP 67i handheld GPS and satellite communication devices were recovered from the steering gear room.

A Tanzanian national, Juma Nasir Omar, was detained and later arrested, while another Tanzanian national, Ngingite Nassoro Jumanne, jumped into the sea during the raid and is being traced, officers said.

Omar told investigators that he had concealed the contraband in the ship’s motor room in November 2025 without the knowledge of other crew members and was acting on the instructions of a handler.

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Based on disclosures, Kelvin Chukwuma, a Nigerian national, and Byaruhanga James, a Ugandan national, were arrested from Dwarka in Delhi with the assistance of Delhi Police and are being brought to Gujarat for further investigation.

“115 kg cocaine. ₹1,000 crore. Busted,” Gujarat deputy chief minister Harsh Sanghavi said in a post on X, adding that Gujarat ATS, Indian Coast Guard and Kutch SOG worked together in the operation and that the state “will not be a gateway for drugs.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maulik Pathak
He is an Ahmedabad-based journalist with more than two decades of experience. His career spans business journalism and general news, with reporting across politics, crime, governance, public policy, business, industry, infrastructure, energy, ports, aviation, the environment, wildlife and social issues. He began his career in feature writing before moving into business journalism, reporting on companies and sectors including energy, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and real estate. Over the years, his work expanded to politics, courts, crime, public policy, civic affairs, the environment and wildlife. His reporting has taken him from government offices and courtrooms to factory floors, ports, forests and remote villages, covering stories that range from industrial investments and financial markets to elections, conservation and issues affecting everyday life. While many assignments demand the pace of the daily news cycle, others require sustained reporting over months and years to follow developments beyond the headlines. He started his journalism career with the Asian Age in Ahmedabad in 2002 as a feature writer and sub-editor. Since 2022, he has been working with Hindustan Times. Earlier, he worked with Business Standard, DNA, The Economic Times, Mint and The Times of India. His longest stint was with Mint, where he spent more than eight years reporting across multiple beats. During his career, he has worked in both reporting and editing roles, contributing to page planning, local editions and special editorial projects as newsrooms evolved from print-first operations to digital publishing. Early in his career, he also worked on media and documentary projects with an NGO and as a copywriter at a communications agency before returning to journalism. Away from work, he sometimes makes time for a pair of binoculars, table tennis, cinema and the occasional poem.Read More

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