NEW DELHI: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG), in a joint overnight operation with the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on April 12-13, 2025, seized over 300 kg of narcotics (methamphetamine) worth approximately Rs 1,800 crore.
The ICG on Monday said the operation was "based on a corroborated input from Gujarat ATS, an ICG ship from the Coast Guard Region (West), which was on multi-mission deployment off North Maharashtra/ South Gujarat area, diverted and intercepted an attempted transshipment in proximity of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL)."
The ICG stated that the suspect dumped its consignment in sea and fled towards the IMBL when it realised the ICG ship was approaching.
"The alert ICG ship deployed its sea boat immediately for recovery of the jettisoned consignment whilst commencing a hot chase of the suspect boat," it added.
The proximity of IMBL and the initial separation between the ICG ship and the boat at the time of its detection helped the perpetrator to evade interception before it crossed over the IMBL within a short time. IMBL is the maritime border defining the surface of the water between countries.
The cross over resulted in termination of the hot chase and precluded the ICG ship to apprehend the suspect boat.
Meanwhile, the ICG team in a sea-boat, after thorough search in the tough night conditions, recovered a sizable amount of narcotics that was dumped into the sea.
The seized narcotics have been brought to Porbandar by the ICG ship for further investigations.
The jointness of ICG and Gujarat ATS, which has led to 13 such successful law enforcement operations in recent years reaffirms the synergy for national objectives, added the ICG.