Mumbai

A local court today remanded eight Pakistani nationals, apprehended in a joint operation of the Navy and the Coast Guard from a boat off Gujarat coast last week, in police custody till May 5.

The boat was carrying 232 kilograms of heroin whose worth is estimated at around Rs 600 crore in international market.

The case has been transferred to the Yellow Gate police here who deal with all the maritime cases in international waters on the west coast.

The prosecution told the court that the investigators wanted to find out the intended recipient of the drug cache.

A Thuraya satellite phone was recovered from them and it was to be probed who they were in communication in with thorough the phone in India as well as in Pakistan, it added.

The court was also told that these men were a part of an international drug smuggling racket and police were investigating about the owner of the boat and how it could set sail without a name and a flag.

Police yesterday registered a case against the accused under IPC, Narcotic Substances and Psychotropic Substances Act and maritime laws.

Multiple agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau, the Navy, the Narcotics Control Bureau and the Coast Guard have interrogated the arrested men.

– PTI