INDIA: In a first of its kind haul at high seas, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Indian Navy seized nearly 800 kg Narcotics worth Rs 2000 crore from a vessel beyond India’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Arabian Sea, off Saurashtra-Kutch coast in Gujarat, on Saturday.
The contraband included 529 kg of “very high-quality hashish (charas),” over 234 kg of the “finest quality of crystal methamphetamine,” and about 15 kgs of heroin. While the drugs were suspected of being loaded from Pakistan, the NCB is investigating its delivery contacts.
In a well-tuned multi-agency operation at sea, The Narcotics Control Bureau, with the constant support of the Indian Navy, successfully captured 800 kgs of narcotics substances, the Indian Navy tweeted.
As per the release of the NCB, it had received inputs about the trafficking of drugs in the high seas and shared it with the Naval Intelligence Unit, leading to the joint operation. The special units of NCB headquarters have been continuously working on various such intelligence inputs, and we will endeavor to carry out more such operations in collaboration with Naval forces, NCB director-general SN Pradhan said.
The NCB had specific intelligence that two large boats carrying vast quantities of drugs were en route to India from the Arabian Sea towards Gujarat or Mumbai. The intelligence suggested that the drugs were sent from Pakistan and were meant for India.
The operation was launched by the Operations Unit of the NCB led by deputy director general (DDG) Sanjay Kumar Singh in collaboration with the Indian Navy to track these boats in the high seas.
After scouring the ocean for hours in the last couple of days, NCB and an Indian Navy ship noticed two boats outside India’s EEZ. Realizing that the Indian navy boat was chasing them, the smugglers abandoned one of the boats and fled in another one. The ship found in the high seas had some inscription in ‘Urdu.’ The consignment, packed in multiple bags, was brought to the Porbandar coast in Gujarat.
It may be remembered that in July 2017, 1,500 kg of heroin was seized from a merchant ship off Gujarat. Similarly, two persons were caught from Jam Salaya (Jamnagar) with 5 kg of heroin in August 2018.
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