Indian Coast Guard Seizes 526 Kg Drugs: In the Arabian Sea, the Indian Coast Guard has seized 526 kg of heroin and methamphetamine in an Iranian dhow, and arrested five Pakistani men who were on board the dhow.
The seized contraband is estimated to be worth around ₹3,000 crore, making this the biggest seizure in the battle against international drug trafficking.
The Indian Coast Guard carried out the operation jointly with the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and a central agency. The agencies acted on intelligence inputs regarding a suspicious vessel carrying a large consignment of narcotics through the Arabian Sea. The coordination of surveillance and interception took security to the dhow, which was found to be Iranian.
The authorities conducted a thorough search of the vessel after the interception. In total, 526 kg of narcotic substances, heroin and methamphetamine were recovered. The drugs are believed to have a very high value in the international market and total consignment is of the order of ₹3,000 crore.
Five Pakistani nationals working as crew members of the vessel were taken into custody by the captain and crew of the vessel were also detained during the operation. The identities and the roles of the crew members in the ship, the intended destination and the possible connections to the consignment and the wider network of the consignment and their roles will be established as well as the nature of the crew and the details of the consignment will also be investigated.
The interception also reinforced the need for a better collaboration between maritime security and anti-narcotics agencies and the maritime security agencies and the anti-narcotics units in the area and the coordination between them is a great lesson for the implementation of intelligence sharing and cooperation between them.
After the seizure, the dhow, its crew and the contraband recovered were escorted to Mumbai under armed escort. That will allow investigating agencies to carry out extensive interrogation and have more rights to pursue legal proceedings. The investigation is being conducted by a number of agencies, the Coast Guard says, and the vessel will be examined for the route, communication and documentation and possibly with potential links to an international narcotics trafficking network.
The latest seizure comes in a period of repeated maritime narcotic arrests along India's western coast. The Indian Coast Guard and the Gujarat ATS have conducted several intelligence-based operations in the Arabian Sea in the past few years. The Coast Guard records show that such operations have resulted in the seizure of heroin, methamphetamine and other narcotic substances from vessels operating near India's maritime boundaries. In April 2024, the Coast Guard, Gujarat ATS and Narcotics Control Bureau jointly intercepted a Pakistani boat with estimated 86 kg of narcotics.
Such operations are important because maritime routes can be used by international trafficking networks to move large quantities of narcotics across borders before the consignments are transferred to smaller boats or transported inland. Intelligence based surveillance, sea patrols, aerial reconnaissance and coordination among multiple agencies therefore play an important role in identifying suspicious vessels and preventing illegal consignments from reaching their intended destinations.
The 526-kg seizure will be assessed from many angles, including the origin of the drugs, the ownership and registration of the dhow, the movement of the crew, the intended delivery point and who is associated with the shipment. It will also be examined after the arrests whether the crew members were involved in the purported trafficking operation or were acting on behalf of others.
In an intelligence-led joint operation with ATS Gujarat, and Central Intelligence Agency, @IndiaCoastGuard units interdicted a suspicious Iranian dhow in the Arabian Sea, west of #Lakshadweep. Positive detection, sustained tracking and a hot pursuit culminated in tactical… pic.twitter.com/p2BthJvndS
— Indian Coast Guard (@IndiaCoastGuard) September 30, 2026
The operation shows the continuing focus of Indian maritime and law-enforcement agencies to prevent large-scale narcotics trafficking through the country's surrounding waters. And so as the investigation continues, we will be able to gain more information about the supply chain, and the wider network that is believed to have been linked to the seized consignment.
So far, the seizure of 526 kg heroin and methamphetamine and the arrest of five Pakistani crew members is an important step in India’s efforts to disrupt international drug-smuggling routes through the Arabian Sea. Further details will be available during the joint interrogations and legal proceedings in Mumbai.
Comments