Paki boat with 6 men intercepted off Gujarat Coast, drugs worth ₹480 Crore seized

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Indian Coast Guard and Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) caught a boat when it was trying to enter the Indian territory last night.

This is the second major anti-narcotics operation carried out by the agencies in the Arabian Sea in one month. On February 26, five foreign nationals were held off the Porbandar coast with 3,300 kg of narcotics.

This second Pakistani boat carrying drugs worth ₹480 crore was intercepted about 350 km from Gujarat’s Porbandar in an overnight operation, said officials.

The boat had six crew members who have been arrested, officials added.

“The Boat was apprehended about 350 Km from Porbandar into Arabian Sea in a sea-air coordinated operation involving Indian Coast Guard ships and Dornier Aircraft,” said an official statement from the Coast Guard.

The operation was jointly carried out by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Indian Coast Guard and Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad.

“The Indian Coast Guard, on specific intelligence input from agencies, strategically positioned its ships in Arabian Sea on Monday, 11 March 24. ICG also tasked its Dornier aircraft to scan and locate the boat in likely areas.

After an exhaustive search in area, the ICG Ships, with teams of NCB and ATS Gujarat, arrived location and positively identified the boat which was moving suspiciously in dark,” said the Coast Guard.

On being challenged by the Coast Guard ships, said the statement, the boat started evasive manoeuvring, but was chased and forced to stop.

“Boarding team immediately embarked the ship for preliminary checks and investigations,” the statement added.