Indian Navy, NCB seize 2,500 kg drugs; apprehend suspected Pakistani national
One suspected Pakistani national was also detained. The seizure part of 'Operation Samudragupt' targeted the maritime trafficking of drugs originating from Afghanistan.
PremiumThe Narcotics Control Bureau seized approximately 2,500 kg contraband drugs worth at around ₹12,000 crore in Indian waters in a special operation. The record seizure was made by the federal anti-narcotics agency in a joint operation with the Navy, it said.
About 2,500 kg of narcotics has been seized off India's western coast and a suspected Pakistani national apprehended, the NCB said on Saturday, calling it the largest seizure of methamphetamine in the country.
One suspected Pakistani national was also detained. The seizure part of 'Operation Samudragupt' targeted the maritime trafficking of drugs originating from Afghanistan.
The drug cache had started on a "mother ship" -- a large vessel that distributes narcotics to various boats during its journey -- from the Makran coast around Pakistan and Iran, it said.
As many as 134 sacks of suspected methamphetamine, a Pakistani national, the intercepted boat and some other items salvaged from the ship were brought to Mattancherry Wharf in Kochi in Kerala and handed over by the Navy to the Narcotics Control Bureau, it said.
Further consistent efforts and round-the-clock surveillance by the team resulted in the interception of an Iranian boat off the coast of Kerala in a joint operation by NCB and Indian Navy in the month of October 2022.
A total of 200kg of high grade Heroin sourced from Afghanistan was seized and six Iranian drug traffickers were arrested in the operation.
Apart from these operations enforced by NCB and Indian Navy, NCB also shared real-time actionable information generated during the course of Operation Samudragupt with Sri Lanka and Maldives.
These inputs resulted in the seizure of 286kg of Heroin and 128kg of Methamphetamine with the arrest of 19 drug traffickers in two operations conducted by the Sri Lankan Navy in the months of December 2022 and April 2023 and 4kg of Heroin with the arrest of 5 drug traffickers by Maldivian Police in March 2023.
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