CHENNAI: In a swift sea – Air coordinated operation, Indian Coast Guard apprehended six Myanmar nationals approximately 140 nautical miles East of Car Nicobar Island and seized 1,160 kg of Ketamine worth Rs 300 crore in international market. A Coast Guard spokesman said the incident came to light on Wednesday morning when a Dornier aircraft sighted a suspicious vessel operating east of Carnic Island. The vessel was not responding and ICGS Rajveer sailed around 3.50 pm for investigation.
“At about 9.20 pm on Thursday, ICGS Rajveer detected the vessel on radar. It was 140 nautical miles from nearest land, Car Nicobar Island. The vessel failed to stop on being challenged by the ship. The ship fired 15 warning shots in air and forced the vessel to stop,” the spokesman said. Upon further rummaging of the vessel, 58 gunny bags, containing 20 packets each were found.
A total of 1,160 packets were seized. Each packet contained suspicious white crystalline substance. Further the crew failed to produce any supporting document. Once the ship arrived at Port Blair, the Narcotics Control Bureau from Kolkata carried out preliminary investigation and found that the substance was a banned drug Ketamine, the spokesman said.