Pakistanis nabbed from drug-laden boat off Gujarat sent to custody

Mumbai, Apr 27: A court here on Monday, April 27 sent eight Pakistani nationals, who were nabbed from a suspicious boat laden with drugs off the Gujarat coast last week, to police custody till May 5.

They were taken into custody from the boat, which was carrying 232 kg of heroin estimated to be worth around Rs.600 crore, in a major joint operation by the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard on April 21 in the Arabian Sea.

After they were caught, the Pakistanis were taken to Porbander in Gujarat, for investigation by state and central agencies. [232 packets of narcotic worth Rs 600 crore seized from Pakistan boat]

Subsequently, the matter was transferred to Yellow Gate Police, which is concerned with all maritime cases in international waters on India's west coast.

Police lodged a case against the eight Pakistanis under Indian laws pertaining to narcotics and maritime security.

Arguing for their remand, police told the court on Monday that the Pakistanis were part of an international drug smuggling syndicate and police wanted to investigate the intended recipients of the huge quantity of drugs seized.

They said they also wanted to probe how the boat sailed without bearing a name and a flag of the origin country and whether they were in touch with anybody in India or Pakistan through a satellite phone.

IANS