On Sunday, April 28th, 2024, a joint team of the Gujarat anti-terror squad (ATS) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), in coordination with the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), made the biggest seizure of 78 boxes of contraband, suspected to be heroin, weighing roughly 86kg, worth around Rs. 602 crores from a Pakistani fishing boat, on its way to Sri Lanka via Tamil Nadu, off Porbandar coast, Gujarat and arrested its 14-member all-Pakistani crew.

“Due to the enforcement of MCC in the country, all the enforcement agencies are on high alert in the State. During this period, information was received by K K Patel, Superintendent of Police, Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) that a Pakistani drug operative named Haji Aslam alias Babu Baloch would be sending a Pakistani fishing boat, ‘Alraza’ bearing registration number 339-BB-BFD from Karachi harbor to deliver narcotic substance like Heroin or Methamphetamine,” the statement reads.

During the intervening night of 25 and 26, Alraza from the Karachi harbor was to deliver drugs including heroin and methamphetamine close to the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) off Porbandar.

“The said contraband would be delivered to a dhow from Tamil Nadu to be further delivered to Sri Lanka-based drug operatives,” the release stated.

A combined team of the Gujarat ATS and the Indian Coast Guard, acting upon this intelligence, launched an operation from Porbandar on board ICGS Rajratan and, throughout the next night, located a suspicious vessel in the Indian seas 180 NM off Porbandar, Gujarat.

Later, the joint team of Gujarat ATS and ICG identified a suspicious vessel in the Indian waters 180 nautical miles off Porbandar. “The Indian Coast Guard and Gujarat ATS team that had tried to board the vessel for checking was obstructed by the crew of the suspect boat and to restrain the crew and to stop the fleeing vessel, firepower was used in which one member of the crew of the vessel sustained bullet injuries,” the ATS stated.

The boat and crew were brought to Porbandar for further legal procedures. “The joint team of Gujarat ATS and Narcotics Control Bureau (Operations), New Delhi had boarded the vessel and, in the search, have recovered 78 boxes of contraband suspected to be Heroin weighing roughly 86 kgs and worth nearly 602 Crore INR in the international market,” the statement said, adding that the 14 individuals were detained in connection with the seizure.

The 14 accused are all locals of Lasbela, in Balochistan, Pakistan. The boat's 62-year-old master, Nazir Hussain Azam Khan, was transported for additional medical attention after receiving a gunshot wound. He underwent surgery, and his condition is now stable.

In the meanwhile, Porbandar is where the boat and her crew are being taken for more investigation.

This is the largest NDPS seizure to occur in the nation during the Lok Sabha Elections of 2024. Every person in custody is a local of Julubi Maveli, Lasbella, Baluchistan, Pakistan. The Narcotics Control Bureau is pursuing more legal actions and an investigation into this global narcotics network.

After the NCB and ATS found mephedrone and other chemical substances worth Rs 300 crore in labs in Rajasthan and Gujarat, this is the second operation this week.

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