The front line warship of the Indian Navy INS Tarkash operating under the Western Naval Command (WNC) successfully intercepted and seized a suspicious dhow in western indian ocean and seized over 2,500 kgs of narcotics including 2386 kgs of hashish and 121 kgs of heroin stored in different cargo holds and compartments onboard the vessel on Monday.
The frigate INS Tarkash while on patrol duty received multiple intelligence inputs from the Indian Navy’s P-8I surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft regarding suspicious vessel engaged in narcotics trafficking.
“The frigate diverted its course and the suspect dhow was intercepted with a specialist boarding team, including MARCOS conducted a thorough search of the vessel. multiple sealed packets containing narcotics hidden in various cargo compartments were seized. The operations was conducted in coordination with the P-8I aircraft and the Maritime Operations Centre in Mumbai,” confirmed Indian Navy spokesperson.
The warship was participating in the multi-national forces joint focus operation, Anzac Tiger, was deployed deployed in the Western Indian Ocean from January 2025 for Maritime Security Operations. The frigate INS Tarkash and actively supporting Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 and part of the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) based in Bahrain.
Last November, in a joint operation, Indian and Sri Lankan Navies seize 500 kg of narcotics in the Arabian Sea while another narcotics contraband of over 6,016 kg of methamphetamine was seized from a Myanmar fishing boat in the Andaman Sea by the Indian Navy and Coast Gaurd operation.
