NCB intercepts Lankan boat with 340kg heroin
NEW DELHI: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Monday seized nearly 340kg of heroin from a Sri Lankan shipping boat and arrested five people for drug trafficking in Kochi, people familiar with the matter said, adding that the value of the consignment in the international market could be about ₹1,750 crore.
Initial interrogation of the five men led NCB to believe that the Sri Lankan boat had picked up the drug consignment from a red-coloured Iranian boat. NCB hasn’t clarified the intended destination of the drug consignment.officials said Indian Navy ship Suvarna intercepted the Lankan boat “DU Shashila” in the high seas of the Indian Ocean on suspicion of drug trafficking and brought the boat to Kochi’s Mattancherry Wharf for an extensive search by NCB.
The preliminary search did not yield anything. But a thorough hunt for the narcotics led investigators to the 340 packets of heroin concealed in ice in the boat’s cargo hold. A senior NCB official said each packet was stamped with a crown symbol with the words “KING 2021”, a practice followed by drug trafficking syndicates to brand their merchandise.
According to an NCB official, the consignment has a street value of ₹340 crore in India, and ₹1,750 crore in the international market. A defence ministry statement said: “This is a major catch not only in terms of the quantity and cost but also from the perspective of disruption of the illegal narcotics smuggling routes, which emanate from the Makran coast and flow towards the Indian, Maldivian and Sri Lankan destinations.”
NCB said the five Sri Lankan nationals arrested were identified as Wimalasiri, 58, Somasiri, 58, Dharmadasa, 55, WP Ajith Ishant Pereira, 49 yrs, and Arya Ratna Pereira, 48.
This is the second major drug haul by NCB off the Kerala coast in three weeks.
On March 30, NCB announced the seizure of 300kg heroin from a Sri Lankan fishing vessel that had been intercepted by the Indian coast guard off the coast of Kerala’s Vizhinjam, nearly 200km from Kochi.