Pakistan boat carrying 77 kgs of heroin seized in Indian waters by ICG & Gujarat ATS

In a major crackdown on cross-border drug smuggling, the India Coast Guard in a joint operation with Gujarat ATS on Sunday apprehended a Pakistani fishing boat carrying 77 kgs of heroin. The Pakistani boat 'Al Huseini' with 6 crew members was caught entering Indian waters with a narcotics cache worth approximately Rs 400 crores, said PRO Defence, Gujarat. The boat has been brought to Jakhau for further investigation.

Smugglers from Pakistan had been trying to use the Gujarat coast as a transit route to transport narcotics to their destination, especially in the last four years, but all such attempts were foiled, Gujarat ATS Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Himanshu Shukla.

Gujarat ATS seized drugs worth over Rs 1,900 crore since 2016

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has seized drugs valued at over Rs 1,900 crore since 2016, and out of these, narcotics worth Rs 900 crore were recovered this year alone, officials said. More than 70 people were arrested by the ATS during this period in some of the major cases related to narcotics.

This year, heroin worth Rs 900 crore was seized in different operations, including 120 kg of the contraband valued at Rs 600 crore recovered from Morbi district, which was also sent by a Pakistani smuggler and brought to the Gujarat coast through sea route, the ATS officials said.

"Pakistani drug cartels have been trying to use the Gujarat coast as the transit route because of its proximity to the neighboring country. All such attempts have been thwarted by the Gujarat police and other central agencies, and in the future too, no such attempts will succeed. A large quantity of drugs has been seized at the sea by the ATS, ICG, and marine police. We have a 1,600-km-long coastline, hence all the agencies work in coordination to achieve this," Shukla said. 

(With inputs from agency)