NEW DELHI, Sept 19: Based on intelligence inputs, the Indian Coast Guard and Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Gujarat Police in a joint operation apprehended an Iranian boat off the Gujarat coast carrying a huge quantity of heroin worth about Rs 200 crores in the international market and arrested seven crew members on board.
The fishing boat had entered the Indian territorial waters when it was intercepted and apprehended by the Indian agencies. According to sources, the boat, seized during the operation conducted late on Saturday night, carried an estimated 30 to 50 kg of the contraband, worth about ₹150 to ₹ 250 crores in the international market. The exact amount of the drug in the vessel will be known once the boat is anchored at a near-by port and searched.
The crew members, all Iranian nationals, have been taken to the port in Gujarat for further investigation. “We had credible inputs from our intelligence sources about a big drug contraband to be on its way for delivery in mid-sea,” said ATS DIG Himanshu Shukla.
“On an intelligence based joint act, @IndianCoastGuard with ATS #Gujarat apprehended #Iranian boat in #Indian waters with 07 crew carrying #drugs. The boat is brought to the nearest port for further rummaging and investigations,” a defence PRO of Gujarat said on their official Twitter handle.
In last few years, Gujarat coast has become a preferred route for smuggling of drugs from Pakistan or Iran. In April this year, eight Pakistani nationals were apprehended off the Gujarat coast carrying heroin worth over 150 crores in a boat. In January last year, five Pakistani nationals on board a fishing boat were apprehended mid-sea off the Gujarat coast while they were allegedly trying to smuggle drugs worth ₹175 crore into the State.
As many as 35 packets of heroin, each weighing 1 kg, were seized from the five men near Jakhau coast in Kutch district.
Similarly in July 2017, in one of the biggest drug hauls, an Indian Coast Guard ship seized 1,500 kg of heroin valued at about ₹3,500 crore from a merchant vessel off the Gujarat coast.
(Manas Dasgupta)