Andaman drug haul: Smugglers made calls to contacts in India, other South East Asian nations

PORT BLAIR: Days after the nearly 6,000 kg of methamphetamine were seized from a trawler in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, investigators found that the smugglers had made multiple calls to their contacts in South East Asian countries, including one person in North India, a top police officer said on Friday.

The smugglers also entered navigational coordinates for Neil Island in South Andaman and Rangat in Middle Andaman into their systems.

In the country's largest single seizure of Methamphetamine of more than 6,000 kgs, Andaman & Nicobar Police collaborated with the Indian Coast Guard to arrest six international narco cartel members of Burmese origin and seize their boat customised for Narco transhipment.

“Our investigation revealed that they fed navigational coordinates of Sumatra in Indonesia and also coordinates of Neil Island and Rangat in Andaman. This came as a surprise because it was thought that the consignment was not meant for India. We are trying to find out why they fed the coordinates of these two places in Andaman,” DGP Hargobinder Singh Dhaliwal told PTI.

It is under investigation whether they had plans to unload a portion of the consignment in Andaman, he said.

Dhaliwal said, “Apart from making calls to people in South East Asian countries, the smugglers also contacted a person in North India. We have alerted the agencies concerned and are looking into details about this person.”

As part of the investigation, the police are trying to find out who bought the Starlink internet device the smugglers were using mid-sea, and when and its usage history, he said.

Starlink, a service provided by SpaceX — the aerospace company founded by Elon Musk — is an international telecommunications provider offering coverage in over 100 countries, but not in India.

At present, the arrested foreign smugglers are in police custody.

On November 23, a pilot from the Coast Guard Dornier aircraft, while on routine patrolling, noticed suspicious movement of a fishing trawler near Barren Island, approximately 150 km from Port Blair.

The trawler was warned to slow down, and the pilot alerted the Andaman and Nicobar Command. A nearby fast-patrolling vessel then responded and towed the trawler to Port Blair on November 24 for further investigation.

Authorities suspect that the drug consignments may be linked to notorious international cartels, such as Tse Chi Lop's (the Chinese El Chapo) or Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes' (El Mencho) operations.