KOCHI: In what may be the largest ever drug haul in the country, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), in a joint operation with the Indian Navy, seized around 2,500kg of high-grade methamphetamine worth Rs 15,000 crore from a ‘mother ship’ passing through the Arabian Sea off Kerala coast.
“This is the largest seizure of methamphetamine in the country,” NCB deputy director general (operations) Sanjay Kumar Singh said in Kochi. A Pakistani national has been detained in connection with it. The NCB launched ‘Operation Samudragupt’ in January 2022 following Intelligence inputs on the trafficking of heroin and other drugs through the maritime route in the Indian Ocean region. Singh said the NCB has seized 3,200kg of methamphetamine, 500kg of heroin and 529kg of hashish as part of the operation during the past one-and-a-half years.
According to him, the contraband seized on Saturday was sourced from the ‘Death Crescent’, a region comprising Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. Based on Intelligence inputs collected with the help of the Indian Navy, the NCB got information on the movement of a mother ship carrying a huge quantity of methamphetamine from the Makran coast bordering Pakistan and Iran.
The Navy identified the probable route the vessel would take for the distribution of the contraband and deployed a ship to track it. Subsequently, the Navy intercepted the vessel and seized 134 sacks of suspected methamphetamine from it. A speedboat was also seized. The recovered sacks, Pakistani national, the intercepted boat and some other items salvaged from the mother ship were brought to Mattancherry Wharf in Kochi on Saturday.
According to the sources, evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in drug trafficking was clear as the sacks in which the contraband was packed contained the seals of Pakistan brands of rice and other food products. Some of the sacks contain Arabic inscriptions, said a source.
“NCB has initiated seizure procedures. The primary analysis is that all of the packets contain methamphetamine. As the seizure procedures are still underway, the exact quantity of methamphetamine recovered is not clear yet. However, from the number of packets recovered, we estimate it to be around 2,500 kg,” said Sanjay Kumar Singh.
The NCB seized 529kg of hashish, 221kg of methamphetamine and 13kg of heroin, all sourced from Baluchistan and Afghanistan, in the high seas off the coast of Gujarat in February 2022. In October 2022, an Iranian boat was intercepted and 200kg of high-grade heroin sourced from Afghanistan was seized from it. Six Iranian drug traffickers were also arrested in the operation.
The NCB had shared real-time information generated during ‘Operation Samudragupt’ with Sri Lanka and Maldives which helped in the seizure of 286kg of heroin and 128kg of methamphetamine and the arrest of 19 drug traffickers in two operations conducted by the Sri Lankan Navy in December 2022 and April 2023. The Maldivian police seized 4kg of Heroin and arrested five traffickers in March 2023.