Indian Coast Guard, Navy arrest Pakistani smugglers after three-day search, interrogation on

[related-post]

Navy’s INS Nirghat and Kondul along with the Indian Coast Guard’s Sangram were deployed to trace the ship suported by aerial surveillance from the Navy’s P-8I and IL 38 aircraft and Coast Guard Dorniers.

The three-day operation ended when the boat was intercepted by ICGS Sangram around 150 nautical miles off Porbandar coast, Navy officers said. The two boats, ‘Fiza’ and ‘Fatima’, were found sailing close to each other.

Coast Guard officials found the contraband consignment from ‘Fiza’ whereas nothing was found from ‘Fatima’. The ICG has seized ‘Fiza’.

ICG Commander Coast Guard (North West) Kuldip Singh Sheoran said inspection showed that the contraband was pure heroine. “A total of 232 packets were seized from boxes stored in the boat. The international market price of the contraband is estimated to be Rs. 600 crore,” he added.

MAP

The officials refused to comment whether the alleged smugglers have terror links. They were using Satellite phones and GPS (global positioning system) devices.

Indian Navy officers said the boat appeared like a normal fishing boat. “The men belong to a large network of drug peddlers who often use Indian waters for smuggling and were carriers,” one of them added. Two of them jumped into the water to escape, but where pulled out and arrested.

Senior officers from Navy, Coast Guard and Narcotics Control Bureau are in Porbandar for the interrogation of the arrested smugglers.