Drugs worth ₹350cr seized from Pakistani boat off Gujarat coast
On Friday night, the Coast Guard had deployed two interceptor ships, C-429 and C-454, for patrolling the international maritime border
Ahmedabad: The Indian Coast Guard and the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) have seized around 50 kg of drugs, believed to be heroin, worth ₹350 crore, from a Pakistani boat off the Gujarat coast and apprehended six of its crew members, an official statement issued by the ATS said on Saturday.
On Friday night, the Coast Guard had deployed two interceptor ships, C-429 and C-454, for patrolling the international maritime border. Around midnight, a Pakistani boat ‘Al Sakar’ was observed moving suspiciously five nautical miles inside the International Maritime Boundary Line, and 40 nautical miles from Jakhau in Gujarat, the statement added.
The Pakistani boat allegedly started evasive manoeuvring, but the Coast Guard ships intercepted and forced it to stop. On boarding the boat, officials found 50kg narcotics, believed to be heroin, concealed in five gunny bags. The market value of the seized narcotics is estimated to be ₹350 crore, the statement said.
This is the sixth such joint operation by the Indian Coast Guard and the Gujarat ATS in the last one year, and the second such operation in less than a month. On September 14, 40kg of drugs was seized from a Pakistani boat, the statement added.
Such operations have been a result of effective coordination and synergy among security agencies, the ICG said in a release.
In February this year, a joint operation conducted by the Narcotics Control Bureau and the Indian Navy led to the seizure of 750kg drugs, worth over ₹2,000 crore, from a ship off the Gujarat coast.
Between 2019 and 2021, the Gujarat police and other agencies seized contraband weighing 437kg, worth a total of ₹2,100 crore and arrested 73 people.
In the first week of June, the ATS and the Coast Guard arrested nine Pakistani nationals while trying to smuggle heroin worth ₹280 crore to India.
