Unclaimed narcotics worth Rs 15 crore recovered in Kutch

Three packets containing narcotic drugs worth Rs 15 crore, which were found lying unclaimed near an island in an uninhabited creek area in western Kutch, were recovered, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Kutch district police said on Wednesday.

This comes a week after 194 packets of illicit drugs were recovered from a Pakistani vessel, which was intercepted and brought to Jakhau (Kutch) on the Gujarat coast.

"The police have increased vigil in the creek area near the International Maritime boundary line (IMBL) on the suspicion that drug carriers had thrown some drug packets in the Arabian sea before they were apprehended by the Indian agencies in the recent times," a release issued by the SOG of Kutch-West division said.

Based on a specific tip-off, the SOG police reached Sethwara Bet, a small island in the creek area, and found three packets lying unclaimed on the shore, it said.

"Preliminary investigation has revealed that these packets, weighing one kg each, had washed ashore following high tide. Forensic analysis established that each packet contained heroin, morphine and codeine, collectively worth Rs 15 crore in the international market," it said.

The SOG has now roped in the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to conduct further probe into how these packets landed there.

A week back, a Pakistani fishing boat with six crew members aboard, sailing in the Indian waters off the International Maritime boundary line (IMBL) in the Arabian Sea was seized by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG). During the search, 194 packets of narcotics were recovered from the boat.

In March, the Coast Guard and Gujarat ATS had intercepted a boat and seized around 100 kgs of heroin off Gujarat coast.