Vigilant and alert; Indian Coast Guards seizes Pakistan boat containing heroin near Gujarat

News Bharati    22-May-2019
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New Delhi, May 22: The relation between the neighbouring countries India and Pakistan has been sour after the Pulwama attack in February. Ever since then, the borders, coastal areas and the airspace has been under strong vigilance of the security forces. In a latest, the Indian Coast Guard has taken a Pakistani fishing vessel into custody that illegally entered the Indian waters. Detaining six people on board, the coast guards have also found vessels containing narcotics.

 

According to the statement issued by the defence ministry, the vessel’s movements were under watch from Sunday. The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) received intelligence of a suspicious vessel likely to be engaged in drug trafficking in an area off the India-Pakistan International Maritime Border Line (IMBL) off the coast of Gujarat. Similar intelligence warnings were also received from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence on Monday.

 

The Indian Coast Guard directed its vessel, the Arinjay to patrol the area near the Maritime border after receiving a tip-off. In order to provide backup support, two additional Interceptor Boats were pressed into service from Jakhau and Okha. Besides this, an ICG Dornier indigenous maritime surveillance aircraft from Porbandar was also tasked with locating the suspect vessel.

The statement said, “During the search, one fishing boat was observed to be suspicious and Coast Guard ships in area shadowed the suspect vessel during the dark hours of 20 May 2019 night." When the suspect vessel crossed into Indian waters on 21 May, it was intercepted by the ICG ship Arinjay.

“Initial search of the fishing boat by Indian Coast Guard boarding party revealed 194 packets of suspected narcotics substance. The vessel is being escorted to Jakhau harbour for detailed investigation and rummaging," the statement said adding that in a similar operation in March, ICG ship Rajratan seized about 100 kilograms of heroin from a suspected Pakistani dhow off the coast of Gujarat. Nine Iranian crew members were also detained, the statement said.

Since the 2008 Mumbai attack, when 10 Pakistani terrorists set sail from Karachi and targeted India’s financial capital, India has strengthened its coastal security system with a network of radars set up along coastal areas as well as in neighbouring countries.