Guj ATS, ICG seize 35kg of heroin off Jakhau coast

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat anti-terrorist squad (ATS) and Indian Coast Guard (ICG) in a joint operation apprehended a fishing boat with five Pakistanis aboard off the Jakhau coast, in the early hours of Monday. Officials said 35 kg of heroin, worth Rs 175 crore in the international market, was seized from the boat.
ATS sources said the consignment was to land at Jakhau.From there, it was to be delivered to an Afghan national in Delhi who is in the national capital on medical visa.
Senior ATS sources said that the Pakistanis arrested told them that the consignment was to be dispatched to other countries through the Afghan national. Those arrested are being jointly interrogated by various agencies.
This is the fourth major seizure of contraband from off the Gujarat coast since 2017. “For the past year and a half, Gujarat has emerged as a transit point for the Pakistan-based drug mafia to smuggle narcotics to other countries. Earlier, an Afghan national, Niyamat Khan, who also was in India on a medical visa, was arrested for smuggling 100kg of heroin out of India through South India,” a senior ATS source said.
Deputy inspector general of police, ATS, Himanshu Shukla, said they received intelligence that a consignment of heroin was going to be smuggled into Gujarat at Jakhau.
ACP ATS B P Rojiya had got this input and alerted senior cops. As the input specifically said that the drug consignment was being sent in a Pakistani fishing boat, ATS officers contacted the Indian Coast Guard and a joint operation was launched.
ATS teams led by ACPs B H Chavda and B P Rojiya boarded Coast Guard fast interceptor boats (IBs) at Jakhau, and embarked on a search operation. Commandos of the marine task force and SOG Bhuj-Kutch were also stationed in Indian waters to help apprehend the smugglers.
ATS officials said the search was concentrated north west of Jakhau, which the intelligence had specified. A suspicious Pakistani boat, ‘Jam Jam’ was found there in Indian waters at about 3am on Monday.
The ICG IBs followed the boat and a team boarded it. A search revealed 35 packets of heroin.
The contraband weighs 35kg and is valued at Rs 175 crore in the international market. The persons apprehended are presently being interrogated.