Guj: Boat with Pak crew carrying drugs arrested

Surat/ New Delhi/Ahmedabad: In a sea-air coordinated operation, narcotics worth Rs 480 crore were seized from a Pakistani boat with six crew in the Arabian Sea near Porbandar by a multi-agency team led by the Indian Coast Guard, the defence ministry said on Tuesday.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) coordinated with the Coast Guard in the operation in the intervening nights of March 11 and 12, it said. The Indian Coast Guard (ICG), based on intelligence inputs, apprehended a Pakistani boat with six crew members and narcotics onboard, the ministry said in a statement.

“The boat was apprehended about 350 km from Porbandar into Arabian Sea in a sea-air coordinated operation involving Indian Coast Guard ships and Dornier aircraft,” it said. The ministry said the operation exhibited well-coordinated efforts between ICG, NCB and ATS Gujarat.