Indian Navy and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) made the ‘largest ever’ drugs seizure of 2,500 kg of ‘high-purity’ methamphetamine, priced worth Rs 15,000 crore, off the Kerala coast on May 13. CNN News18 now learns that the entire joint operation leading to the record drug seizure was on the verge of derailment because of ‘Operation Kaveri’ launched to rescue stranded Indians in war-torn Sudan.
NCB had received specific intelligence input about narcotics exchanging hands in international waters near Iran. “The initial input we had from our source was that Heroine from Pakistan would be transported mid-sea. We got in touch with other agencies and began tracking the input,” an official told News18.
In a bid to crack down on the drug haul, NCB launched a joint ‘Operation Samudraupta’ with Indian Navy. A team of NCB officials boarded Indian Naval Ship Teg and waited for the exchange to take place.
ALSO READ: NCB Says 2,500 Kg of ‘High-purity’ Methamphetamine ‘Worth Rs 15,000 Crore’ Seized Off Kerala Coast
Operation Kaveri Almost Derailed Operation Samudragupta
However, on April 27, INS Teg was deployed in Operation Kaveri to bring back stranded Indian nationals from Sudan. Tension prevailed in NCB Delhi headquarters as three SP rank officials, who boarded INS Teg 10 days ago for a four-day-long mission to seize narcotics, had not returned yet. The families of the officers were gripped with worry.
The four-day-long planned mission was stretched to 40 days after INS Teg was diverted under Operation Kaveri. NCB Delhi headquarters even considered diplomatic intervention to ensure the safe return of their officers via another route.
The rescue mission, however, ended just in time and INS Teg sailed back to International waters near Iran to resume Operation Samudragupta.
According to the intelligence input, a mother boat was to receive 4 smaller boats with narcotics from Pakistani drug peddler Haji Salim. Officials said his Modus Operandi is to send small boats with 8-10 crew members with narcotics consignment to an empty mother boat waiting at a decided location. After the consignment is loaded on the mother boat, it receives instructions about where to sail next. Salim is known to pay a hefty amount of Rs 7-8 lakh to his crew members for each operation.
While the NCB crew waited, the drug exchange seemed to be delayed and the risk of intervention from another Naval crew was increasing with each passing moment.
“Oman Navy had intervened once earlier forcing the narcotics smugglers to withdraw before the consignment was delivered,” a source close to the operation told News18. As the wait stretched, a fuel crisis also arose mid-sea and a message was sent to Delhi.
According to a statement issued by NCB, the mother boat which was to receive the drug consignment from smaller boats and then travel to Sri Lanka, started off its journey from the Makran coast of Iran. The Indian Naval ship intercepted a large sea vessel acting on specific inputs about the name and make of the mother boat. The Pakistani crew onboard the smaller boats dumped the consignment onto the mother boat and fled after realizing they were being tracked. One crew member was arrested while the rest managed to flee.
As many as 134 sacks of suspected Methamphetamine were recovered from the ship and an Iranian national was also detained, according to NCB. The intercepted speed boat and the narcotics consignment were brought to the Mattancherry Wharf in Cochin on May 13.
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