Ahmedabad: The Indian Coast Guard intercepted and apprehended a merchant vessel from Panama carrying approximately 1500 kg of heroin valued at about Rs 3500 crore off the coast of Gujarat.
According to a senior Coast Guard official, the merchant vessel was intercepted on the basis of intelligence inputs.
The official said, “we received inputs and acting on the basis of the same, the Panama merchant vessel was intercepted by Coast Guard ship ‘Samudra Pavak’ at around 1200hrs on Sunday.”
He said that after being brought to the coast, during a thorough scanning, the largest single haul of narcotics was recovered from the merchant vessel.
A joint investigation of the vessel by the coast guards, IB, police, Customs, Navy and other agencies is currently underway.
“The investigation and search on the vessel is still on and there are likely chances of more recovery of drug from the seized merchant vessel,” added the official.