Mumbai: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Indian Navy have in a joint operation seized 2,500 kg of high purity methamphetamine valued around Rs15,000 crore and arrested a Pakistani national after intercepting an Iranian vessel off the Kochi coast.
As many as 135 plastic sacks with “death crescent crystal meth” were seized from the suspect mother ship — large sea going vessels used for narcotic trafficking and gun running for distribution to other vessels in the seas — that had sailed from Makran.
Operation Samudragupt
The seizure was part of Operation Samudragupt, which targets ships carrying narcotics through the Indian Ocean region.
Some of the seized packets carried “Made in Pakistan” seals and were meant to be distributed in India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, according to NCB deputy director general (ops) Sanjay Kumar Singh.
The Indian Navy got an alert about the mother ship and intercepted the vessel, which had a huge consignment of methamphetamine trafficked from Makran coast off Balochistan. The Navy escorted the vessel to Mattancherry Wharf, Kochi, on Saturday and handed it over to NCB for further action.
“This is the latest major incident of maritime narcotics trafficking on the southern coast in the last 18 months that involves drugs originating from Afghanistan,” said an NCB official.
Drugs seized under the operation
Intelligence sharing between the DRI, ATS Gujarat, Naval Intelligence, NTRO, and NCB led to seizure of 3,200 kg methamphetamine, 500 kg of heroin and 529 kg of hashish as part of Operation Samudragupt, which was launched in January last year.
The initial success of the Operation Samudragupt was achieved in February 2022 when a joint team of NCB and Indian Navy seized 529 kg of hashish, 221 kg of methamphetamine and 13 kg of heroin in the high seas off the coast of Gujarat, all sourced from Balochistan and Afghanistan. Further consistent efforts and round the clock surveillance by the team resulted in the interception of an Iranian boat off the coast of Kerala in a joint operation by the Indian Navy and the NCB in October 2022. A total of 200 kg of high grade heroin sourced from Afghanistan was seized and six Iranian drug traffickers were arrested in the operation.
The Indian Navy and NCB also shared real time actionable information with Sri Lanka and the Maldives leading to seizure of 286 kg of heroin and 128 kg of methamphetamine with arrest of 19 drug traffickers in two operations conducted by the Sri Lankan Navy in December 2022 and April 2023. As much as 4 kg of heroin was seized and 5 drug traffickers arrested by Maldivian Police in March 2023.
