New Delhi: Close tracking, a high-speed chase in the ocean and interception by a navy warship led to the confiscation of contraband weighing 3,300 kg, worth several crores, from a dhow that had embarked from Iran.
The consignment — which the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said is the ‘biggest offshore seizure’ of drugs in the country in terms of quantity — was found concealed in a container. The packaging material bore the print of ‘Ras Awad Foods Co, produce of Pakistan’.
The seized narcotics included 3,110 kg of charas/hashish, 158.3 kg crystalline meth powder and about 24.6 kg of heroin. One Thuraya satellite phone and four mobile phones along with the dhow were also seized, while five foreign nationals were detained and later arrested.
The ‘catch’ took place 60 nautical miles away from India’s exclusive economic zone in the Arabian Sea, in a joint operation carried out by the navy, the NCB, and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Gujarat Police.
The navy gathered intelligence using its P8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft after corroborating the inputs received from the NCB. A warship was then deployed in the Indian Ocean Region to intercept the dhow which was nearing the Indian waters.
The dhow, which started its journey from Chabahar port, was to deliver the contraband to a fishing boat suspected to be approaching from the coast of Tamil Nadu on 27 February at a given point within Indian waters, said NCB sources.
Meanwhile, the NCB received information that an unregistered foreign fishing vessel, which did not have an Automatic Identification System (AIS) installed onboard, would be coming to Indian waters with more than 3,000 kg of narcotics and five-seven foreign nationals on board.
What ensued after was a chase by the Indian Navy whose commandos carried out boarding operations onboard the intercepted dhow. The dhow was towed by the warship to Porbandar, the nearest Indian port, for handing over the crew and contraband.
Cases of illegal narcotics smuggling routes have in recent times increased in the Arabian Sea, coming from the Makran coast and flowing towards various IOR countries.
During a press conference, NCB Director General S.N. Pradhan said that this was the highest offshore seizure by quantity in the country.
The destination where the dhow was headed is being investigated, he said. This is the first time that NCB launched a team of its own in the high seas.
Pradhan said that such cases had come to the fore in the Arabian Sea in recent times.
He added that efforts were on to exploit the Indian coastline and that is what makes it vulnerable. “It is a part of a grand design to destabilise the country in terms of drug incursion and feeding drugs into the subcontinent (at large).”
After the coming of the new government in Afghanistan, the stockpile of heroin had gone up, he said. “Myanmar has also become another record supplier of heroin on the other side (of the country).”
Pradhan said one million kg of drugs have been destroyed in the past three years.
Referring to countries such as Maldives, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, the NCB head said that a lot of drug smuggling is being undertaken from these countries and that the Indian Ocean Region is being infested with drug trafficking.
“The primary objective of the operation is to collect actionable inputs which could lead to interdiction of ships carrying narcotics contraband,” said Gyaneshwar Singh, Deputy Director General (Ops), NCB, who was in charge of the operation.
“Further investigation is on to bust the entire international syndicate. Requisite help of foreign Drug Law Enforcement Agencies (DLEAs) will be taken.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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