Heroin price Rs 1,500 crore seized from TN fishing boats off Lakshadweep coast

By Express News Service

KOCHI: In a serious drug haul based mostly on particular intelligence inputs, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, in affiliation with the Indian Coast Guard, intercepted two fishing boats close to Agatti off Lakshadweep and seized 218 kg of heroin price Rs 1,526 crore within the worldwide illicit market.

The boats, Prince and Little Jesus, registered in Tamil Nadu had been seized on Wednesday and dropped at the Coast Guard District Headquarters in Kochi for additional investigation. As per preliminary data, there have been 20 fish employees within the boats they usually had been natives of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The DRI had acquired intelligence inputs about transportation of an enormous amount of heroin to the Tamil Nadu coast by fishing boats and had been sustaining a decent vigil for the previous few months. The data was that Indian fishing boats will obtain big amount of heroin within the Arabian Sea by the second or third week of May.

Accordingly, the DRI deliberate a joint operation in affiliation with Indian Coast Guard codenamed Operation Khojbeen, which was launched on May 7. As a part of the operation, Coast Guard ship Sujeet, with DRI officers on board, maintained an in depth watch close to the Exclusive Economic Zone. After a number of days of steady search and monitoring, two fishing boats named Prince and Little Jesus had been observed transferring suspiciously in direction of the Indian coast. Both the Indian boats had been intercepted by officers of the Coast Guard and DRI on May 18, off the coast of Lakshadweep.

On interrogation, the crew members confessed that they acquired an enormous amount of heroin on the excessive seas and hid it within the chambers of the boats. After confirming the smuggling of heroin, each the boats had been escorted to Kochi for additional proceedings.

An intensive search of the boats was carried out on the Coast Guard District Headquarters in Kochi, and 218 packets, containing1 kg of heroin every, had been confiscated. The seizure proceedings underneath the provisions of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) are presently being undertaken by the DRI. Follow-up searches are being carried out at varied areas and additional investigation is in progress, the DRI stated in a launch.

The seized drug seems to be of high-grade heroin and its worth within the worldwide illicit market is estimated to be round Rs 1,526 crore. The authorities refused to disclose extra particulars concerning the seizure. There are indications that the drug was being shipped from Pakistan.

This is the fourth main drug bust by the DRI up to now one month. Earlier, the DRI had recovered 205.6 kg of heroin from a business import consignment of gypsum powder on the Kandla port on April 20. Another consignment of 396 kg of yarn (laced with heroin) was seized at Pipavav port on April 29. The DRI had additionally seized 62 kg of heroin on the Air Cargo Complex within the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on May 10. The collective worth of the drug seized is roughly Rs 2,500 crore within the worldwide illicit market.

Since April 2021, the DRI has seized greater than 3,800 kg of heroin valued at roughly Rs 26,000 crore within the worldwide illicit market. In addition, greater than 350 kg of cocaine valued at roughly Rs 3,500 crore was seized by the DRI throughout this era, together with the most important haul of 303 kg from a container at Tuticorin port in April 2021.

The ICG however has recovered about three tons of narcotics price roughly Rs 6,200 crore in several operations up to now three years bringing the full drug haul until date to Rs 12,206 crore.