A vessel carrying drugs worth crores was seized off the coast of Gujarat.
The Coast Guard made the biggest single narcotic haul this week, seizing around 1,500 kg of heroin valued at around Rs 3,500 crore, from a merchant vessel off Gujarat coast.
The Coast Guard ships Samudra Pavak and Ankit intercepted the merchant vessel on Saturday noon. The ship was brought to Porbandar this morning. A joint investigation by the Coast Guard, Intelligence Bureau, police, Customs, Navy and other agencies is currently underway, officials said.
A joint investigation into the drugs seizure near Gujarat is underway.
The search operation for the suspect vessel was started by ships and aircraft of the Coast Guard on July 27.
"Based on intelligence inputs, the vessel was intercepted at around 1200 hrs yesterday. This is the largest single haul of narcotics seized till date," a defence spokesperson was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India.
"The movements of all ships in the area including the suspect vessel were minutely observed throughout till its apprehension along with eight crew members by Indian Coast Guard ships on July 29," read an official statement, reported news agency IANS.