New Delhi, Sept 30: Indian security forces have seized an Iranian dhow, carrying heroin and methamphetamine worth Rs 3,000 crore and arrested 5 Pakistani nationals.
The dhow (traditional boat) was seized by a joint team of the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Indian Coast Guard (ICJ) in the Arabian Sea, west of Lakshadweep.
The operation culminating in the seizure and arrest of five Pakistani nationals, took over 16 days and involved a team of about 30 officers, officials said today.
The joint operation by Gujarat ATS, the Indian Coast Guard, and central intelligence agencies led to the seizure of 526 kg of methamphetamine and heroin from an Iranian boat inside India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), 160 nautical miles northwest of Lakshadweep and 490 nautical miles southwest of Mumbai.
The Indian Coast Guard said in a statement that in an intelligence-led joint operation with ATS Gujarat and the Central Intelligence Agency, Coast Guard units found a suspicious Iranian dhow in the Arabian Sea, west of Lakshadweep.
“Positive detection, sustained tracking and a hot pursuit culminated in tactical boarding, successfully neutralising a major transnational narco-smuggling vector,” the ICG said in a statement.
The operation resulted in the seizure of 526 kg of high-grade heroin and methamphetamine valued at over Rs 3,000 crore, alongside the apprehension of five Pakistani crew members, the statement said.
The apprehended vessel and crew have been escorted to Mumbai for multi-agency investigations and subsequent prosecution.
Gujarat ATS sources said an inspector-level officer received a tip-off on 10 September that a “Nigerian national had held a meeting through an intermediary in Ahmedabad regarding a drug transaction”.
The investigation revealed that “during the meeting, an order was placed for approximately 500 kg of methamphetamine and heroin to be transported aboard the Iranian boat Azad”. ATS sources said the consignment was to be delivered to a “Tamil Nadu-based boat in Indian territorial waters within the Mumbai–Kochi–Lakshadweep region”.
“An advance payment for the drugs had already been dispatched via hawala channels, with the remaining balance to be settled through hawala once delivery was completed,” sources said.
Given the scale of the shipment, “the conspirators planned to unload the narcotics along the Tamil Nadu coastline, split it into smaller batches, and transport it by land to deliver to the Nigerian national in Punjab”.
According to police sources, a wanted narcotic smuggler, identified as Haji Salim, and his associates arranged to send the consignment aboard the Azad in about a fortnight.
“The boat’s tandel, or captain, was reportedly to use a Starlink device,” said the police, adding that it was done to evade interception by using satellite connectivity to communicate at sea where standard telecom networks are unavailable.
After the initial input was brought to the notice of senior Gujarat ATS officials, they coordinated with the Indian Coast Guard Headquarters in Delhi, sending teams to Kochi, Kerala. At Kochi, ATS officers met with senior Coast Guard officials to form a joint operational team, police said.
Boarding a Coast Guard vessel, the team deployed to the target maritime zone to conduct surveillance and inspect suspicious vessels. “For 16 days, officers remained on the high seas, taking shifts around the clock to scan every vessel in search of the target Iranian dhow,” said another ATS source.
On 25 September 2026, the suspect vessel was spotted in Indian territorial waters west of Lakshadweep. The Coast Guard vessel intercepted and stopped the dhow, allowing joint ATS and Coast Guard teams to board and conduct a search. The vessel was subsequently brought to Mumbai.
Five Pakistani nationals aboard the Azad —identified as Mohammad Yakub Balochi, Shakirullah, Faridullah, Ahmed Khan, and Wahidullah Khan, all residents of Peshawar, Pakistan—were arrested. (NVI)
