Indian Navy seizes 340Kg of narcotics substance along with five Lankan nationals

In a major drug bust, the Indian Navy seized 340 Kg of narcotics worth INR Rs 3,000 crore in a fishing vessel along with five Sri Lankan fishermen in the Arabian sea today, according to the Indian media reports.

The Indian Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of the Indian Navy said it seized nearly 340 kg of heroin from a Sri Lankan boat and arrested five people for drug trafficking in Kochi.

Initial interrogation of the five men has led the NCB to believe that the Sri Lankan boat had picked up the drug consignment from a red-coloured Iranian boat. The NCB hasn’t clarified the intended destination of the drug consignment.

Officials said the Indian naval ship Suvarna intercepted the Sri Lankan boat “DU Shashila” in the high seas of the Indian Ocean on suspicion of drug trafficking and brought the boat to Kochi’s Mattancherry Wharf for an extensive search by the NCB.

A Defence spokesman as saying the Indian Naval Ship ‘Suvarna’ whilst on surveillance patrol in the Arabian Sea, encountered the fishing vessel moving around in a suspicious manner, according to The Economic Times.

“This is a major catch, not only in terms of the quantity and cost, but also from the perspective of disruption of the illegal narcotics smuggling routes, which emanate from the Makran coast and flow towards the Indian, Maldivian and Sri Lankan destinations,” he said.

Apart from the human costs from drug addiction, the spoils of the narcotics trade feed syndicates involved in terrorism, radicalisation and criminal activities, the spokesman added.