Gandhinagar: The Indian Coast Guard in-wee-hour on early Tuesday seized Pakistani vessel “Al Madina” carrying narcotic substance heroin worth Rs 600 crore, about eight nautical miles within Indian Ocean territory off the Jakhau coast after two days of non-stop search of nearly 200 nautical miles along International Maritime Boundary Line off Gujarat coast.
The Indian Coast Guard detained Pakistani vessel crew for interrogations after they received inputs from the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO) about a Pakistani ship trying to enter Indian Territory.
Apart from this, Indian fishing vessel crews with 13 members were also arrested who were in surrounding area to receive smuggling of goods illegally and secretly coast line.
A day later, the maritime security agency received similar inputs from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence after which search operation was reinforced for action.
Joint teams of intelligence agencies will interrogate crew members.
The Coast Guard deployed fast patrol vessel Aranjay, two interceptor boats and an aircraft for scanning the sea.
Additional Director General of the Coast Guard VSR Murthy said, “The suspect boat did evasive maneuvers to avoid getting apprehended. However, they were apprehended despite the rough sea conditions.”
He further added, “On rummaging the boat, approximately 194 packets of suspicious substance suspected to be narcotics have been recovered which will be further verified by appropriate agencies through chemical analysis.”
Pakistani vessel trying to enter in Indian coast with Heroine worth Rs 600 crore:
While crew in a situation when it was hard to escape, members threw bags containing the suspicious materials in water from the boat before they could be taken into custody, later ICG retrieved seven bags from the water.
During attacks in 2008, 26/11 Mumbai terrors attack terrorist used sea route to enter India.
This is second major success in an anti-narcotics operation on high seas by the Coast Guard in the past two months, during March when a joint operation with the Anti Terrorist Squad and ICG seized a large amount of heroine approximately 100 kg valued of Rs 300 crore from the coast of Gujarat as per the information given by the maritime agency.
Based on inputs from Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and other agencies a Pakistani fishing boat was in a plan to deliver a huge narcotics consignment to an Indian fishing vessel.
The Coast Guard was diverted ships to the location in the Arabian Sea off Jakhau in Kutch region of southwest Gujarat, bordering Pakistan.
Adding to this they continue to chase the ship and managed to arrest within Indian territorial waters despite encountering rough seas in the darkness.
Preliminary tests by the Coast Guard, through a drug testing kit, revealed heroin were packed in some 195 packets weighing around 200 kg.
Constant search for the Pakistani vessel in detail are under process and its crew being interrogated thoroughly for further investigations, details of which are awaited by the officials.
