6 Pakistani nationals held off Gujarat coast; heroin worth Rs 200 crore seized; drug was to be transported to Punjab

Ahmedabad, September 14

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The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad in a joint operation with the Indian Coast Guard seized 40kg heroin worth Rs 200 crore from a Pakistani fishing boat in the Arabian Sea off the Gujarat coast on Wednesday, a senior ATS official said.

Six Pakistani crew members of the boat were also apprehended, he said.

The fishing boat carrying drugs was intercepted mid-sea by a joint team of the Coast Guard and ATS near Jakhau harbour in Kutch district, the official said.

“The heroin was meant to be transported to Punjab by road after being offloaded on the Gujarat coast. Based on a specific tip-off, we intercepted the boat which left from Pakistan, and caught six Pakistani nationals with 40kg of heroin,” he said.

The ATS and Coast Guard officials along with the seized boat are expected to reach the Jakhau coast later in the day, he said.

The state ATS and the Coast Guard had foiled similar attempts of drug smuggling in the past also and caught foreign nationals with huge quantities of narcotics which they planned to smuggle into India via the Gujarat coast.