SOG finds Pakistan link in heroin seizure from Gujarat vessel

The Jamnagar Special Operations Group (SOG) claimed here today that it had unearthed a Pakistan connection in the seizure of 1,032 kg heroin by the Australian Navy from a Gujarat-registered vessel near the Kenyan coast two weeks ago.
After questioning nine sailors, including the vessel's captain Isha Hussain, SOG officials learnt that the heroin was loaded onto it in mid sea by Pakistan-based drug dealers as the ship headed towards Kenya from Sharjah.
The value of the seized narcotics is estimated to be around Rs 1,500 crore.
In a press release issued here today, the SOG claimed that the vessel 'Laxminarayan' is registered in Veraval and was rented by Salaya-based Haji Bashir Daud aka Raja.

On March 4, Raja, Hussain and other sailors went to Amaraiya port in Dubai to deliver goats and sheep. From Dubai, they took the vessel to Sharjah and loaded cement bags and water tanks.
According to sailors' statements given to the SOG, Raja oversaw the loading and asked Hussain and others to take a Pakistani sailor called Ashraf Mohammad with them to Mombasa port in Kenya, where the contraband narcotics was meant to be delivered.

The statement said that Raja also asked Hussain to stop the vessel at a particular place in the sea as directed by Ashraf. Raja paid money to all of them and asked them to load a consignment from another vessel in the sea.

The sailors, whom SOG questioned, claimed that a boat came from Pakistan's Jiwani port and transferred 43 sealed bags onto their vessel under Ashraf's supervision.
The sailors also claimed that men on the Pakistani boat did not reveal that the bags contained heroin.
When the vessel reached near Mombassa port in Kenya on March 23, the Australian Navy intercepted it and found heroin in the bags.
The Australian Navy seized the bags of heroin and released the sailors after telling that something "suspicious" was found on their vessel.
According to the SOG, the sailors were then let away by the Australian Navy, after which Hussain took the ship to Mombassa in Kenya and sought help of a local trader called Aliba, who arranged air tickets for all sailors.

When the SOG inquired about Ashraf, the sailors, who are all residents of Jodia town in Jamnagar district of Gujarat, claimed that he went to Pakistan from Kenya.