14 Pakistan nationals with 86 kg heroin worth Rs 600 crore arrested off Porbandar coast

Ahmedabad: In a joint operation, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Sunday apprehended 14 Pakistani nationals with about 86 kg of heroin worth over Rs 600 crore from their possession in a mid-sea operation.  

ATS officials said that the consignment was to be delivered to some unidentified handlers in Tamil Nadu from where it was planned to be smuggled to Sri Lanka.

In a media briefing, Director General of Police, Vikas Sahai said that the case has been handed over to Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for further investigation.

The ATS had obtained intelligence that a Pakistani fishing boat would be handing over a consignment of narcotics to some unidentified persons from Tamil Nadu. The intelligence input said that Radio Call sign of Pakistan boat 'Al-Raza' was "Ali" while the unidentified Indian vehicle's Radio call sign had a code name of "Haider."

Based on the information, a joint team of ATS, ICG and NCB (operations) intercepted the suspected boat about 180 nautical miles off Porbandar coast on April 26.

The ATS said that after being identified the team tried to isolate the fishing boat when the crew members started throwing the packets of heroin into the sea and tried to run over the watch team. The situation, according to officials, compelled an ICG official to open fire. 

The captain of the boat identified as Nazir Hussain sustained bullet injury in his right hand. Officials said that he was under treatment. 

ATS said that primary investigation revealed that the drug was sent by Haji Aslam alias Babu Baloch, a drug mafia based in Balochistan. 

In a release, the ICG stated that the "operation was an epitome of inter-agency coordination" among ICG, ATS and NCB.

It said that the ship and the aircraft of ICG were deployed on the concurrent mission. ICG ship 'Rajratan', which had NCB and ATS officials identified the suspected Pakistani boat. It said that it was the eleventh such operation jointly conducted by different agencies in the past three years.