232 kg Heroin Worth Rs. 600 Crore Seized From Pak Boat Intercepted Off Porbandar: Coast Guard

Porbandar April 21, 2015(Agencies) :  The Pakistani boat intercepted by the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard off Gujarat's Porbandar yesterday, was carrying a cargo of narcotics.  which was aboard the Coast Guard interceptor Sangram that caught the Pakistani vessel, found 232 packets of narcotics, half-a-dozen cellphones and satellite phones and global positioning systems.The crew, eight Pakistani nationals, has been arrested. The narcotic, suspected to be heroin, is worth Rs. 600 crore. Each packet weighs nearly one kg.Sources said a terror link has been ruled out. The satellite communication phones and global positioning systems were "being used to facilitate transhipment of the contraband to another boat," an officer said.But it is not yet known what was the destination of the narcotics and which boat the Pakistani vessel was trying to contact. The Pakistani



boat has been brought back to Porbandar for further investigation.The authorities had been tracing the movement of the boat since April 18, the Coast Guard officials said later at a media conference. On basis of intelligence inputs, multiple units of Coast Guard and the Navy had been deployed.The ships on the trail of the Pakistani vessel included Sangram and two ships of the navy -- Nirghat and Kondul.Extensive aerial searches were undertaken by Coast Guard and Naval aircraft including Dorniers, IL-38 and P8Is.At dawn on Monday, Sangram intercepted the boat and by 7 am, it was formally seized and the crew arrested, said the Coast Guard officials.Three months ago, on New Year's Eve, a Pakistani boat laden with explosives caught fire and then exploded killing the four crew members on board after it was intercepted by the Indian Coast Guard, about 365 km off the Porbandar coast.