Pakistani boat with smugglers and packets of heroin nabbed off Gujarat coast

Ahmedabad/Bhuj: The Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Gujarat police has seized 35 kg heroin worth around Rs 175 crore from a Pakistani boat in the Arabian sea off the Jakhau coast of Kutch district in Gujarat and arrested five Pakistan nationals from the boat, a senior police officer of the ATS today said.

Head of the ATS Himanshu Shukla said that the ATS had got credible information that an illegal consignment of narcotic drugs, Heroin, is going to be smuggled in Gujarat through Coast. The information further revealed that the consignment is being sent in Pakistani fishing boat from Pakistan. ATS Officers contacted Indian Coast Guard, and it was decided to launch a joint operation to apprehend the smugglers and seize the contraband. A team of officers of ATS, boarded Indian Coast Guard Fast Interceptor Boats(IBs) at Jakhau, Kutch, and a joint search was started. Commandos of Marine Task Force and SOG Bhuj-Kutch were kept in boats in Indian waters to help in apprehending the smugglers.

Continuous search operation was undertaken near the location, located North West of Jakhau, which was indicated in the information available with ATS Gujarat. A suspicious Pakistani boat was identified at the said location in Indian waters. ICG IBs stealthily started following the boat, and at the opportune moment officers and personnel of ICG IBs along-with ATS Officers successfully boarded the suspicious boat. Search of the suspicious boat revealed 35 packets of contraband heroin on Pakistani boat JamJam. The approximate weight of confiscated contraband is 35 Kg valuing Rs 175 crores (approx) in international market. The interrogation of the apprehended accused persons is in progress jointly by all agencies, he said.

The details of the five Pakistan Nationals apprehended from Pakistani boat named are as follows:-

(1) Anees Isa Bhatti, age 30 years, resident/of Baba Zajeera, Karachi, Pakistan

(2) Ismail Mohammed Kachchi, , age 50 years, r/o Kemadi, Beet Zajeera, Karachi, Pakistan

(3) Ashhraf Usman Kutchhi, age 42 years, r/o Kemadi, Beet Zajeera, Karachi, Pakistan

(4) Kareem Abdulla Kutchhi, age 37 years, r/o Beet Zajeera, Karachi, Pakistan

(5) Abubaqar Ashraf Sumra, age 55 years, r/o Beet Zajeera, Karachi, Pakistan

We are committed to thwart attempts to smuggle narcotics in state, & well prepared to face any challenge in front of coastal security of 1600 Km long coast
Anti-Terrorist Gujarat, in joint operation with Indian Coast Guard caught 5 Pakistani nationals with Heroin worth Rs 175 Cr pic.twitter.com/rr9xxeP1gz

— DGP Gujarat (@dgpgujarat) 6 January 2020

DeshGujarat