3,300 kg drugs seized off Gujarat in highest-ever bust
The dhow and crew members have been handed over to the law enforcement agencies by the Navy after being apprehended on Tuesday, the officials said.
PORBANDAR/NEW DELHI: Indian agencies Wednesday made their highest-ever narcotics bust from the sea as they seized 3,300 kg drugs, which sailed from an Iranian port, off the Gujarat coast and arrested five foreigners from a dhow.
The cache – that includes 3,110 kg charas or Hashish, 158.3 kg of crystal Meth and 24.6 kg of suspected heroin – has been recovered from packets that bore the stamp of ‘Ras Awad Goods Co, produce of Pakistan’ and could be worth anything between Rs 1,300-Rs 2,000 crore in the international market, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Director General SN Pradhan said.
The dhow and crew members have been handed over to the law enforcement agencies by the Navy after being apprehended on Tuesday, the officials said.
“Indian Navy in a coordinated ops with Narcotics Control Bureau, apprehended a suspicious dhow carrying almost 3300Kgs contraband. The largest seizure of narcotics, in quantity in recent times,” a Navy spokesperson said.
“Based on inputs from P8I LRMR aircraft on surveillance mission & corroboration from @narcoticsbureau, #IndianNavy’s Mission Deployed warship was diverted to successfully intercept & apprehend the suspicious dhow,” the post said.
“This seizure of drugs is by far the largest in terms of quantity, & was possible through #collaborative efforts of #IndianNavy’s #missiondeployed assets with the NCB. The contraband, apprehended boat & crew handed over to the Law Enforcement Agencies at an Indian port #27Feb 24,” it added. The spokesperson said the coordinated response of the Indian Navy with law enforcement agencies is reflective of their resolute stance against narcotics trafficking in India’s maritime neighbourhood.