Ahmedabad: The officials informed that the Indian Coast Guard seized 300 kg of narcotics worth 1,800 crore in a joint operation with the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) off the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).
The joint operation with the ICG and Gujarat ATS was conducted on April 12- April 13.
According to officials, the smugglers had tried to flee the scene and dump the narcotics after spotting the Coast Guard.
“Indian Coast Guard, in a joint operation with Gujarat ATS on the night of 12-13 Apr 25, seized 300 Kg narcotics worth Rs 1800 Crore off IMBL near the Gujarat coast. On spotting the ICG ship, smugglers dumped contraband & fled across IMBL. The consignment was recovered at sea and handed to #ATS for further investigation. A testament to strong inter-agency synergy against drug smuggling,” read a post by the ICG.
The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Gujarat ATS, Sunil Joshi, mentioned that two ATS officials had been attached with the Coast Guard while the ship went to the suspected place of the handoff.
“Gujarat ATS Inspector JM Patel had gotten information that there is a Pakistani supplier, Fida is trying to smuggle around 400 kgs of material in Porbandar off the IMBL by giving it to a Tamil Nadu boat, which would have taken the material to Tamil Nadu. We made a team to investigate the matter, and Inspector VM Bharwad and sub-inspector Bhupendra Waghelal were attached with the Coast Guard,” the Gujarat ATS DIG said.
Mentioning that the ICG ship had found a Pakistani fishing boat on their radar, Joshi added, “On the intervening night of April 12 and 13, the ship reached the place where the handoff was supposed to happen, and found a small Pakistani fishing boat through their radar. The Pakistani shipping boat had observed the ICG ship and their standard reaction was to throw the things off the ship so they can claim innocence.”
Earlier on April 11, the ICG had intercepted a Fishing Boat, Maa Basanti, approximately 72 nautical miles from Sagar Light, within the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). (With inputs from ANI)
