Pak boat issue: court grants transit remand of 8 Pak nationals

A Gujarat court today directed the Coast Guard to produce the eight Pakistani nationals, arrested off Porbandar coast, in a special court in Mumbai for further legal proceedings as the local court does not have the powers to take up matters related to crimes committed in international waters.
In a joint operation, the Navy and the Coast Guard had on Monday intercepted the boat carrying narcotics substance, suspected to be heroin, the street value of which is estimated at Rs 600 crore, and arrested eight Pakistani crew onboard off Porbandar coast.
After taking the custody of eight Pakistani nationals, the Coast Guard today produced them before a court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Arvind Patel to acquire their remand. However, the court said that the case was beyond its jurisdiction.

"As the boat was captured from the international waters, the case is beyond its jurisdiction," the court said.
For matters related to international waters, there are two separate police stations and related courts. That is Yellow Gate police station in Mumbai for cases of west coast and Yellow Gate police station in Kolkata for east coast.
As the court refused to entertain their matter, the Coast Garud advocate asked for their transit remand to produce them in Mumbai.
"The Coast Guard requested a transit remand to take these Pakistani nationals to Mumbai. The court granted them the transit remand. Now, the Coast Guard will lodge an FIR in Mumbai and seek remand from a special court there," Porbandar Superintendent of Police Girish Pandya said.