India
oi-Gaurav Sharma
The
Indian
Coast
Guard
(ICG)
has
seized
86
kg
of
drugs
worth
Rs
600
crore
from
a
Pakistani
boat
and
arrested
14
persons
on
board
the
vessel
off
the
Gujarat
coast,
the
maritime
security
agency
said
on
Sunday.
The
overnight
operation
in
the
Arabian
Sea
was
carried
out
in
coordination
with
the
Gujarat
Anti-terrorism
Squad
(ATS)
and
the
Narcotics
Control
Bureau
(NCB),
it
said
in
a
release.
This
was
the
11th
such
successful
joint
operation
in
the
past
three
years
involving
the
Coast
Guard
and
the
ATS,
it
said,
seeking
to
underscore
the
synergy
between
the
two
agencies.
A
top
Gujarat
police
official
said
heroin
was
seized
from
the
boat.
“In
a
breathtaking
overnight
operation,
Indian
Coast
Guard
undertook
an
intelligence-based
anti-narcotics
operation
at
sea
on
28
Apr
24.
Approx
86
kg
of
narcotics
worth
Rs
600
crore
has
been
apprehended
along
with
14
crew
from
the
Pakistani
boat,”
the
agency
said
in
a
release.
Coast
Guard
ships
and
aircraft
were
deployed
for
the
operation,
it
said,
adding
that
ICG
ship
Rajratan
was
used
to
identify
the
suspect
boat
with
the
help
of
NCB
and
ATS
officials
on
board.
“No
amount
of
evasive
manoeuvring
tactics
employed
by
the
drug-laden
boat
could
save
it
from
the
swift
and
strong
ICG
ship
Rajratan.
The
ship’s
specialist
team
embarked
on
the
suspect
boat
and,
after
thorough
checks,
confirmed
the
presence
of
a
sizable
amount
of
narcotics,”
the
Coast
Guard
said.
The
Pakistani
boat
along
with
its
14-member
crew
were
apprehended
and
were
being
brought
to
Porbandar
for
further
investigations,
it
added.
“The
jointness
of
ICG
and
ATS,
which
has
led
to
eleven
such
successful
law
enforcement
operations
in
the
last
three
years,
itself
reaffirms
the
synergy
for
national
objectives,”
it
added.
A
total
of
78
packets
weighing
86
kg
were
recovered
from
the
Pakistani
fishing
boat,
Gujarat
Director
General
of
Police
Vikas
Sahay
said.
The
packets
contained
heroin,
a
powerful
recreational
opioid,
he
said,
citing
the
preliminary
investigation.
“Indian
Coast
Guard
and
ATS
officials
approached
the
Pakistani
fishing
boat
and
confronted
it
with
bravery.
An
ICG
official
had
to
shoot,
after
which
the
crew
members
of
the
boat
surrendered
and
the
officials
detained
them,”
Sahay
told
media
persons.
He
said
the
head
of
the
crew
was
injured
in
his
right
hand
in
the
firing
and
was
undergoing
treatment.
After
the
boat
was
seized,
a
second
ATS
team
left
for
the
spot,
he
said.
“All
the
crew
members
hail
from
Balochistan
in
Pakistan,”
he
said.
Last
month,
the
Coast
Guard,
NCB
and
ATS
had
caught
a
boat
carrying
methamphetamine,
a
highly
addictive
psycho-stimulant
drug,
worth
over
Rs
400
crore
and
its
six
Pakistani
crew
members
off
the
Porbandar
coast
in
Gujarat,
officials
had
said.
In
February,
the
Indian
Navy
and
the
NCB
had
apprehended
a
dhow
off
the
Gujarat
coast
with
five
crew
members
and
seized
3,300
kg
of
drugs
from
it,
the
largest
quantity
of
narcotics
seized
in
recent
times,
officials
had
said.
The
narcotic
substances
included
3,089
kilograms
of
charas.
A
kilogram
of
charas
costs
nearly
Rs
7
crore
in
international
markets,
they
had
said.
Story first published: Sunday, April 28, 2024, 21:08 [IST]