press trust of india
Ahmedabad, July 30: In one of the biggest drugs haul, an Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ship seized 1,500 kgs of heroin valued at about `3,500 crore from a merchant vessel off the Gujarat coast, a defence spokesperson said Sunday.
Merchant vessel ‘Henry’ was intercepted and detained off the Gulf of Khambat along the Gujarat coast by ICG ship ‘Samudra Pavak,’ the coast guard said in a release Sunday.
The vessel was intercepted at around 12:00 hrs Saturday. “During initial inspection by the Coast Guard, approximately 1,500 kg of narcotics worth `3,500 crore have been found onboard (ship ‘Henry’),” it said. The intruder suspicious vessel, which was found to be registered in Panama, had eight crew members onboard and no cargo.
It said it was headed to Bhavnagar for breaking at the Alang yard after being intercepted by the ICG ship in the Gulf of Khambat, which was denied by the Gujarat Maritime Board, the ICG said. The vessel was Sunday taken to Porbandar, and crew members were detained for interrogation in the presence of intelligence agencies, police, customs, enforcement, narcotics, and the navy, it said. The development comes three days after the ICG was mobilised on intelligence input that an Iranian vessel Prince-II, carrying large amount of narcotics (heroin and chitta), was likely to enter Bhavnagar (Gulf of Khambat) or Jamnagar (Gulf of Kutch) in disguise, the release said.
4 Africans held with `70L drugs
New Delhi: In a major crackdown, three African women and a man have been arrested by the NCB in the national capital for allegedly trying to smuggle out narcotic drugs worth `70 lakh in the international market, an official said Sunday. Drugs (pseudoephedrine and ephedrine) weighing over 32 kgs have also been seized by the sleuths of the Delhi zonal unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in three separate operations launched by them since Saturday.
