In a joint mid-sea operation, the Gujarat’s Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Sunday seized a Pakistani boat with 14 crew members and 86 kg of drugs valued at ₹602 crore off the Porbandar coast in Gujarat.
The authorities arrested all 14 persons, who are Pakistan nationals, after their boat was seized in the sea.
According to officials, the consignment was meant to be delivered to some unidentified handlers in Tamil Nadu, from where it was to be smuggled to Sri Lanka for final delivery.
Gujarat Director-General of Police Vikas Sahai said the case has been handed over to NCB for further investigation.
Officials said the ATS received intelligence inputs that a Pakistani fishing trawler headed towards India would be handing over a consignment of narcotics to some unidentified persons from Tamil Nadu.
The inputs further revealed that the radio call sign of the Pakistan boat Al-Raza was “Ali” while the unidentified Indian handlers had the radio call sign “Haider.”
Acting on the tip-off, a joint team of Gujarat’s ATS, Indian Coast Guard and NCB during their joint operation exercise intercepted the suspected boat about 180 nautical miles off Porbandar coast on April 26.
During the mid-sea operation, the Pakistani nationals attempted to escape by trying to drive their boat over ATS officials, prompting the ICG and ATS officials to fire from their firearms. The authorities eventually took control of the boat and apprehended the crew.
In the mid-sea face-off, Nazir Hussain, identified as the captain of the trawler, sustained bullet injury in his right hand. Officials said he was under treatment.
According to officials, the consignment was apparently sent by a leading member of the drug mafia, Haji Aslam alias Babu Baloch, who is based in Balochistan.
Meanwhile, the ICG in a release described the operation “as an epitome of inter-agency coordination” among ICG, ATS and NCB.
It said that a ship and aircraft of ICG were deployed on the concurrent mission. ICG ship Rajratan, which had NCB and ATS officials, identified the suspected Pakistani boat. It said that it was the eleventh such operation jointly conducted by different agencies in the past three years.
The agencies have so far not revealed the type of narcotic substances found on the Pakistani boat.
