Coast Guard apprehends Pakistani boat with narcotics worth Rs 600 crore

The Indian Coast Guard on Tuesday apprehended a Pakistani boat off the Gujarat coast and seized narcotics, suspected to be heroin, worth Rs 600 crore, the maritime agency said.

Six crew members of the boat were taken into custody by the ICG, it said.

The action was taken based on inputs from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and other agencies.

"Following a tip-off @IndiaCoastGuard Ship apprehended a #Karachi registered #Pakistani #Fishing Boat 'AL-MADINA' with 06 crew onboard off #Gujarat coast this morning & seized 194 packets of #Narcotics substance. Boat is being escorted 2 #Jakhau 4 investigation @DefenceMinIndia," the ICG tweeted.

An ICG ship and two interceptor boats were involved in a clandestine operation to intercept the vessel, it said.

On Tuesday morning, Pakistani fishing boat Al-Madina was intercepted off Jakhau coast even though it did evasive manoeuvres to avert getting apprehended, it said.

When cornered, the crew on the boat threw the bags containing the suspicious materials in water before being taken into custody, the ICG said, adding that seven bags were retrieved from the water.

"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," it said.

"Further rummaging of the boat will be undertaken during joint investigation and interrogation with other agencies," the maritime agency added.

Defence PRO Puneet Chadha said six crew members have been taken into custody and they will jointly interrogated at Jakhau.

"This is the second incidence in this year when ICG has seized such a large quantity of heroin from the coast of Gujarat," the agency said.

In March, the ICG, in a joint operation with the Anti Terrorist Squad, had seized 100 kg of heroin.