The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and the Gujarat Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) seized about 526 kg of narcotics from an Iranian dhow in the Arabian Sea west of Lakshadweep on Friday, September 25.
Five Pakistani nationals aboard the vessel were detained, the Indian Ministry of Defence (MOD) said in a release published on Wednesday, September 30.
ATS Deputy Inspector General Sunil Joshi said during a press conference in Ahmedabad that preliminary questioning indicated the cargo contained about 400 kg of methamphetamine and 126 kg of heroin.
“Acting on intelligence, ICG assets undertook precise sea-air surveillance and persistent tracking of the suspected vessel before launching a coordinated hot pursuit,” the coast guard said.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the interception was in India’s exclusive economic zone in the Arabian Sea. The site was 490 nautical miles southwest of Mumbai and 160 nautical miles northwest of Lakshadweep.
Shah said the 16-day operation also included central intelligence agencies. Investigators were seeking to trace the broader network and establish who was meant to receive the drugs.
Authorities took the dhow, its crew, and the seized drugs to Mumbai under armed guard. The ICG said they were taken there for joint questioning and further investigation, after which legal proceedings involving several agencies would follow.
The dhow has been identified by the name Azad.
Joshi said Police Inspector JM Patel received information on September 10 that a long-wanted accused from Gujarat had contacted a Nigerian national. The intelligence indicated that the Nigerian had met an individual in Gujarat.
“The final intelligence indicated that five accused had departed from the vicinity of the Konarak port on the Iranian coast, and a smaller boat had approached the Azad off the coast of Gwadar, Pakistan, to deliver the narcotics consignment,” Joshi said.
Joshi said the alleged plan was for Azad to deliver the narcotics consignment to a boat from Tamil Nadu.
In May 2026, the Coast Guard and the ATS seized about 115 kg of cocaine off Mundra following a joint intelligence-led operation. The MOD described the earlier seizure as the 15th successful joint anti-narcotics operation undertaken by the two agencies in five years.
The cocaine was recovered from five bags that had been thrown overboard from the anchored Cypriot-flagged container vessel Europe. One crewmember was arrested in that case while another jumped into the sea to evade arrest and has not been found.