Gujarat ATS seizes large consignment of drugs from Mundra port in Kutch

|HT|

Less than a week after the Border Security Force apprehended four Pakistani fishermen and seized 10 fishing boats from Indian waters off Gujarat coast, the state anti-terrorist squad (ATS) said that it has seized a large consignment of drugs from Mundra port in Kutch district. “We have seized a consignment of drugs, mainly heroin, from Mundra port. The consignment was coming from the Middle East. The quantity and its value are being determined and there will be an announcement in connection with this in the next few hours,” an ATS official said.

The Gujarat ATS has been carrying out search operations for the past couple of days at Mundra port after receiving specific intel about the container, he added. In September 2021, the largest seizure of narcotics substance in the country was reported at Mundra port when a drugs consignment weighing 3,000 kgs, worth ₹21,000 crore, was seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence. The matter was handed over to the National Investigation Agency to probe terror financing angles. In February this year, a joint operation conducted by the Narcotics Control Bureau and the Indian Navy led to the seizure of 750 kgs of drugs from a ship off the Gujarat coast, worth over ₹2,000 crore.

From 2019-2021, Gujarat police and other agencies seized contraband weighing 437 kgs and worth ₹2,100 crore, and arrested 73 persons.

In the first week of June, nine Pakistani nationals were arrested by Gujarat ATS, in a joint operation with the Indian Coast Guard, while trying to smuggle heroin worth ₹280 crore to India. The Pakistani boat ‘Al Haj’ was carrying about 56 kgs of heroin and was brought to Jakhau port in Kutch district for further investigation. The boat was intercepted around 14 nautical miles into Indian territory of the International Maritime Borderline off the Jakhau coast in Kutch.

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