The Pune Customs’ marine preventive wing on Monday foiled an attempt to smuggle out 3,500 live goats and sheep to Dubai to meet the demands for the festive season of Eid and seized a vessel off Ratnagiri coast.
“Based on specific intelligence, the officers of Pune Customs, with the assistance of Indian Coast Guard (ICG), seized the vessel attempting to export the livestock from Vijaydurg Port in Sindhudurg under the guise of coastal cargo for supply to Okha in Gujarat,” an official said.
“Supply of livestock from Karnataka to Gujarat did not appear to be a general trade practice and there was no previous history of such coastal passage,” explained a senior Pune Customs official.
Pune customs received unconfirmed tip off
The official added that the Pune Customs Commissionerate had received an unconfirmed intelligence regarding possible smuggling of livestock out of India from the Konkan coast in Maharashtra. Discreet surveillance was carried out on one of the vessels which had submitted documents intimating the coastal (domestic) supply.
When it was noticed that the vessel had changed course and was headed towards Dubai, a Coast Guard vessel was deployed to intercept and bring it to the Angre Port. “The automatic vessel identification of the vessel to track movement in the sea was switched off and was not found in the vicinity of its marine route,” explained a marine customs official saying that their teams searched the seas for five hours but could not establish contact with the vessel.
ICG intercepted vessel in early hours of April 21
The Indian Coast Guard intercepted the vessel in the early hours of April 21, at about 90 nautical miles into the open sea. The vessel with livestock was escorted to the Jaigad anchorage where a team of Customs officers conducted a thorough search that resulted in the seizure of several incriminating documents, indicating conspiracy to illegally export livestock on the basis of forged documents.
The vessel, along with its crew and cargo, has been detained for investigation.
“All local authorities, DG Shipping and animal boards have been alerted, and a relief action is also underway,” the official said.
