80 kg cocaine worth ₹800 crore recovered off Kutch coast in Gujarat

Gujarat Police Thursday said it has recovered 80 kg of cocaine, worth nearly ₹800 crore, dumped on the shore of a creek near the Gandhidham town Kutch district, PTI reported

The cocaine, a powerful central nervous system stimulant drug, was found in 80 packets, each weighing a kilo, the Gujarat police said. 

The cocaine was perhaps left behind by smugglers to avoid getting caught as the police were already active in the region, PTI reported Sagar Bagmar, superintendent of police, Kutch-East division as saying.

The packets were found abandoned on the shore of a creek passing from Mithi Rohar village near Gandhidham town, he said.

“Based on a tip-off about the delivery of a drug consignment, we were already active in this region. During our combing operation, we recovered 80 packets of cocaine, each weighing one kilogram, and worth ₹800 crore, from the shore of the creek. It is possible that the smugglers might have dumped the contraband here out of fear of getting caught,” PTI quoted Bagmar as saying.

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The report said the Border Security Force (BSF) and other agencies have been recovering drug packets containing heroin and cocaine and other banned substances at regular intervals from the coast near Jakhau, which is close to Pakistan border, since last two years.

Investigations have revealed that such packets washed ashore in past after they were dumped in the sea by smugglers to avoid getting caught.

Bagmar said the packets recovered today from the creek near Gandhidham and were not related to those found earlier.

“These packets are relatively fresh. They appear to be recently packed. We firmly believe that they are part of a consignment that we had been tracking after getting a tip-off recently,” Bagmar added.