An Indian Coast Guard ship escorts Pakistani fishing boat 'Al-Madina', which was apprehended off Gujarat, to Jakhau (Kutch)

Pakistan fishing boat with 200 kg of heroin seized off Gujarat

INDIA
Tuesday, May 21, 2019, 23:00 (GMT + 9)

Heroin worth US $ 86 MM were seized after an Indian Coast Guard ship intercepted the Pakistan fishing vessel Al-Madina off Gujarat

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on May 21 apprehended a Pakistani fishing vessel off Gujarat and seized 200 kg heroin, worth 86 million dollars in the international market.

According to Additional Director General K. Natarajan, Coast Guard Commander (Western Seaboard), late on May 20 received intelligence input from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and other agencies that a Pakistani fishing boat was to deliver narcotics off Gujarat and that it was to be received by an Indian boat.

Gujarat is a state on the western coast of India with a coastline of 1,600 km (990 mi) – most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula – and a population in excess of 60 million.

The ICG swiftly diverted its ships to effect interception of the boat. In the early hours of May 21, one of the Coast Guard ships intercepted the Pakistani fishing boat Al-Madina off Jakhau in the Arabian Sea.

“Despite evasive manoeuvres carried out by the crew of Al-Madina and rough sea conditions, it was successfully intercepted within Indian waters. During the hot pursuit, the crew threw bags containing suspicious material into the sea. The Coast Guard team, upon boarding the vessel, took the crew into custody and retrieved the material,” Mr. Natarajan said.

Preliminary testing of one of the seized packets using a drug-testing kit revealed that the substance was heroin, officials said. “On initial checking 195 packets containing 200 kg of heroin has been found. The Pakistani vessel crew are being subjected to interrogation and rummaging is being carried out by various agencies,” Mr. Natarajan said.

In March, the Indian Coast Guard had recovered 100 kg worth of heroin in a joint operation carried out along with the Anti-Terrorist Squad, Gujarat.

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