Gujarat ATS, Coast Guard seize cocaine worth Rs 1,189 crore from Cyprus-flagged ship off Mundra Port
The police said the consignment arrived on a cargo ship from Brazil and was loaded and hidden in the vessel in November 2025, adding that some drug packets may still be unrecovered from the sea.
The police said the ship's last port of call was Port Qasim in Karachi, Pakistan, from where it reached Mundra Port in Gujarat (Express photo/special arrangement). The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) conducted a joint operation, seizing 118.977 kg of cocaine from a ship anchored approximately 10 nautical miles off Mundra Port in Kutch on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. The shipment, valued at over Rs 1,189 crore, was recovered from the sea after drug traffickers discarded the bags overboard upon spotting the Coast Guard vessel.
The police said the drug consignment was loaded onto the Cyprus-flagged cargo vessel Europe in Brazil in November 2025. The ship’s last port of call was Port Qasim in Karachi, Pakistan, from where it reached Mundra Port in Gujarat.
At a press conference at the ATS headquarters Wednesday, the in-charge chief of Gujarat Police, DGP K L N Rao said, “On the basis of information developed by the ATS PI J M Patel, a drug consignment that has reached Gujarat from Brazil and was to be delivered to Delhi, has been seized in a joint operation with the ICG. The cargo ship which left from Brazil and went to Mexico, the US, Pakistan and then reached Mundra in India, was moored in the outer anchorage.”
“On the night of May 25, the ATS team went to Mundra and the joint team went to the ship Europe and searched the vessel. They found two Tanzanian nationals offloading the consignment onto a boat and were to deliver it to two Uganda(n) nationals in Delhi. They seized five bags of drugs primarily believed to be containing 115 packets of 118 kg cocaine, which is valued at Rs 10 crore per kg.”
Inspector Patel had learnt that crew members of the cargo vessel Europe, including Ngingite Nassoro Jumanne and Juma Nasir Omar, had concealed approximately 150 kg of the narcotic substance cocaine in around six bags from Brazil. The consignment was to be delivered during the early morning of May 26 to Mundra via a fishing boat. The cocaine shipment was intended to be delivered to Kelvin Chukwuma and Byaruhanga James, residents of Delhi.
The joint team conducted surveillance aboard a Coast Guard vessel and then approached the cargo ship Europe, moored at the outer anchorage area of Mundra Port.
High-tech smuggling: AirTags and satellite communicators
The ATS statement said, “Upon noticing the Coast Guard boat, the individuals threw several heavy bags into the sea. With the assistance of the Coast Guard, five floating bags were recovered from the water. Out of these bags, one packet each from two bags was opened, and a required quantity of the substance was tested using a drug detection kit, which confirmed the presence of cocaine. A total of 115 packets were recovered from the five bags, with a combined weight of 118.977 kilograms. Four Apple AirTags were also found inside these bags.”
Notably, the ATS believes that one more bag may still be unrecovered from the sea, and efforts are underway to search for the same, as a senior official said that in the confidential information they had received, there was mention of 6 bags containing 150 packets of cocaine.
After the presence of cocaine was confirmed in the packets, the cargo vessel ‘Europe’ was instructed through a radio message to cooperate for further investigation. The ATS and Coast Guard teams boarded the vessel to interrogate and search the crew members.
Search on for accused who jumped into sea
The statement said, “In the presence of the ship’s captain, all crew members were searched and questioned. During the inquiry, the suspect identified as Juma Nasir Omar was found. Upon interrogation, he stated that he had brought the contraband from Brazil and had secretly concealed it in the motor room in November 2025 without the knowledge of the other crew members, as he worked there.”
“He further revealed that he was supposed to deliver the consignment as instructed by his handler. During the search operation on the cargo vessel, another accused, Ngingite Nassoro Jumanne, jumped into the sea in an attempt to escape. Search operations to locate him are currently underway.”
Further investigation of the vessel also led to the recovery of two Garmin company ‘GPSMAP 67i GPS and Satellite Communicator’ devices concealed in the Steering Gear Room. Accordingly, all the recovered contraband and related items were seized, accused Juma Nasir Omar was arrested, and a criminal case was registered for further legal proceedings.
The individuals who were to receive the consignment, namely Kelvin Chukwuma and Byaruhanga James, were also rounded up from Dwarka, Delhi, by a Gujarat ATS team with the assistance of Delhi Police, and arrangements are being made to bring them to Gujarat.
Both accused present on the vessel are Tanzanian nationals, while among the accused detained in Delhi, one is a Nigerian national and the other is from Uganda.
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