Indian fishing boat caught with 173 kg hashish sourced from Pakistan, 5 held

A rare case in recent times, saw the Indian smugglers venturing into Pakistani waters using fishing boats to smuggle narcotic substance from Pak-based traffickers.

Ahmedabad: In what raises a serious security concern, five persons have been arrested for smuggling 173 kg of hashish, worth Rs 60 crore, in an Indian fishing boat from Pakistan-based drug traffickers. This is the first case in recent times of Indians having crossed over to Pakistani waters for receiving consignment and getting rations and fuel, without being noticed by security agencies.

In a joint operation with Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Narcotics Control Bureau, the Gujarat ATS arrested five persons on Monday and seized 173 kg of hashish they allegedly procured from Pakistan-based smugglers.

Superintendent of Police, ATS, KK Patel had intelligence that three persons from Mumbai and Bheed in Maharashtra identified as Kailash Vajinath Sanap, Datta Sakharam and Mangesh Tukkaram alias Sahu were trying to smuggle narcotic substances through the sea route from Pakistan.

ATS officials said that the preliminary investigation revealed that the accused were in touch with Pakistan-based drug syndicates. They came to the coastal towns of Dwarka and Mandavi where they tried to purchase a fishing boat. Unable to do so, they hired a boat belonging to a local from Salaya in Devbhumi Dwarka district.

Officials said that on April 22 and 23 night, in the pretext of fishing, the accused Mangesh Tukkaram alias Sahu and Haridas Ramnath along with the crew ventured into the sea. In the mid sea, they threatened the crew members and forced the master to take the boat to "a predetermined position off Pasni in Pakistan."

ATS officials said, "Sahu was in constant contact with Kailash Vajinath Sanap over Thuraya satellite phone and was acting on his instructions. On the early morning hours of 27th April, they had taken the delivery of Hashish along with fuel and rations from a Pakistani speed boat at a location, 110 NM (nautical miles) off Pasni, Pakistan, which is more than 300 nautical miles off Gujarat coast."

"After taking the delivery, they were on the way back to a predetermined point, 60 NM off Dwarka. As per their plan, Kailash Sanap had instructed Datta Sakharam to take a smaller boat to this location, take delivery of the contraband and transport the same to a deserted stretch of the Dwarka coast. The final receiver of the consignment, sent by Kailash Vajinath Sanap, was to take the delivery of the contraband from here," officials said.

Apart from Sanap, Sakharam and Sahu, Haridas R Kulal alias Puri and Ali Asghar Halepotra alias Arif Bidani have been arrested. "This is a very serious case and a rare one in recent times," admitted Deputy Inspector General of Police, ATS, Deepan Bhadran.

In recent years, the Gujarat ATS, DRI and other agencies have foiled dozens of smuggling attempts involving nationals from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, resulting in massive seizure of narcotics substances including heroin. A day earlier too, ATS, ICG and Narcotics Control Bureau had arrested 14 Pakistani citizens and recovered 86 kg of heroin worth Rs 600 crore.