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Pakistani boat seized off Gujarat coast, ₹280cr heroin found
According to the ICG statement, authorities brought the boat to Jakhau port for further investigation.
Nine Pakistani nationals were arrested from a boat detained 14 nautical miles off the coast of Jakhau while attempting to smuggle heroin worth ₹280 crore into the Indian side on Monday, said a statement from the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
The Gujarat Anti-terrorist squad (ATS) arrested the nine people and 56 kg of heroin was seized from the boat, valued at ₹280 crore, Gujarat director general of police, Ashish Bhatia, said.
“When the Indian Coast Guard officials asked them about their identity, the accused tried to steer away the boat and started throwing bags in the water. A chase ensued and the ICG personnel opened fire at the boat in an attempt to stop them. The accused were apprehended and 56 kg of heroin worth about ₹280 crore has been seized,” Bhatia told reporters.
According to the ICG statement, authorities brought the boat to Jakhau port for further investigation.
Since 2019, contraband worth over ₹25,000 crore has been seized in different raids along Gujarat’s 1,600-km long coastline.
“For further investigation into the drugs seized from the Pakistani boat and its crew members on Monday, a team of ATS along with Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have sent teams to carry out raids in different parts of North Indian states. The consignment was sent by Pakistan-based drug mafia Mustafa and was to be sent to somewhere in North using the road route after unloading the shipment in Gujarat,” DGP Bhatia added.
ATS officials familiar with the development said the consignment was to be delivered to mafia networks in North India.
“From the last 4-5 years, Gujarat has emerged as a transit hub for smuggling drugs not only to northern states. With tighter security at land borders, the smugglers are using Gujarat’ sea route. In some cases, it was found that the drugs were meant to be smuggled all the way to African nations,” said an ATS official, requesting anonymity.
On April 21, in a joint operation the ATS and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized nearly 205 kilograms of heroin worth about ₹1,400 crore from containers at the Deendayal Port Authority in Kandla.
On Monday, the DRI arrested the alleged importer of the consignment from Punjab. According to the DRI, the consignment had arrived from Iran nearly six months ago and was lying unclaimed till the agency seized it
Weighing in at 394 metric tonnes, the consignment was marked as ‘gypsum powder’, said an agency official familiar with the case. It was imported by an Uttarakhand-based firm and a manhunt was launched across the country after the importer was not found at the registered address, the official said.
“The DRI has arrested the importer and he has been produced before the Court of Special Duty Magistrate in Amritsar on April 24. The court has granted transit demand to enable the DRI officers to produce the importer before the jurisdictional court at Bhuj,” according to a press release by DRI.
The ATS official quoted above cited surplus production of opium in Afghanistan that has led to contraband smuggling through Gujarat.
In September 2021, the largest seizure of narcotics substances in the country was reported at Mundra port of Kutch where a consignment of 3,000 kgs was seized by the DRI. It was worth more than ₹21,000 crore. The matter was later handed over to the National Investigation Agency to look into terror financing through drug smuggling.
In February this year, in a joint operation, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Indian Navy had seized around 750 kg of drugs from a ship off the Gujarat coast, worth over about ₹2,000 crore.
From 2019 to 2021, Gujarat police along with other agencies have seized contraband weighing 437 kilograms and worth ₹2,100 crore, arresting 73 persons in the process.
(With inputs from Manish Pathak)
