The Narcotics Control Bureau in a joint operation with the Indian Navy seized over 750 kgs of hashish and Methamphetamine. This is the first such operation where the seizure has been made by the agencies in the high seas, sources said.
The joint operation was launched after the NCB received an input regarding trafficking of drugs in high seas. The drug agency shared the input with the Naval Intelligence Unit for joint operation.
The value of the seized drugs is estimated to be over Rs 2,000 crore in the international market. The seized drugs included 525 kg of very high quality of hashish and 234 kg of finest quality of crystal Methamphetamine.
The Special Unit of the NCB had been continuously working on such intelligence inputs, sources said. They added that the agency will carry out more such joint operations with the Naval forces.
“The operation has dealt a blow to drug syndicates based out of Pakistan, which uses maritime route for proliferation of drugs in India and other countries,” sources said.
The operation was carried out on the night of February 10 when INS Tabar mounted surveillance around the shared geo-location and narrowed on two boats. Sources said that when the teams of NCB and Navy approaches the two boats using RIBs (Rigid inflatable boat) of INS Tabar, one of the boats escaped to EEZ of Pakistan and another boat was intercepted by Indian Navy.
36 sacks weighing 760 kg of suspected contrabands were recovered from the other boat. The packing of the drugs had Urdu inscriptions on them. The intercepted contraband was then brought to Porbandar in Gujarat where NCB Officers conducted preliminary investigation and the test of the contraband, where it was found positive for the test of Hashish and Methamphetamine.
The operation was monitored by Sanjay Singh, DDG operations of the NCB. Singh said that the operation was one of the biggest planned and executed operation and gave the credit to the team for the successful raid.
The latest seizures in the recent past showed that Pakistan has become a big hub for illicit manufacturing of Crystal methamphetamine, sources said. Crystal methamphetamine are primarily trafficked to Oceanic nations including Australia and New Zealand, they added.
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