Pakistani Boat with 10 Crew Members Held Off Gujarat Coast

NEW DELHI, Jan 9: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) apprehended a Pakistani boat named ‘Yaseen’ with 10 crew members on board in the Indian waters off the Gujarat coast during an operation on Saturday night, an official spokesman said on Sunday.

“The Indian Coast Guard ship Ankit apprehended Pakistani boat ‘Yaseen’ with 10 crew in Indian waters at Arabian Sea during night ops on 08 Jan. Boat being brought to Porbandar for further interrogation,” the official said in a tweet. On September 15 last year, the ICG had in a similar operation caught a Pakistani boat with 12 crew members in the Indian waters off the Gujarat coast.

There has also been a rise in cases of such boats being used to smuggle drugs through the State coast. On December 20, 2021, a Pakistani fishing boat with six crew members and carrying 77 kg of heroin worth around ₹400 crore was apprehended in the Indian waters off the Gujarat coast by the ICG in a joint operation with the state Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS).

(Manas Dasgupta)