Search on to spot heroin dumped in Arabian sea by Pakistan crew

AHMEDABAD: An underwater search operation has been launched to find 50kg of heroin worth Rs 250 crore that had been dumped in the Arabian Sea by the crew members of Pakistani boat Al Noman, said officers on Friday. The boat with the crew members had been apprehended on May 30 over suspicion of smuggling narcotics.
"During investigation, the crew members confessed to have dumped around 50kg of heroin in the sea. When they spotted a coast guard ship moving towards them, the crew members first tried to flee, then dumped the two sacks of drugs they had brought from Gwadar port in Pakistan," said an officer of the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad that was also part of the May 30 operation.
According to the ATS officers, the crew members identified as Mohammed Baloch, Zubair Baloch, Ishak Baloch, Shahid Baloch, Ashraf Baloch, Shoeb Baloch, and Shehzad Baloch have been booked under the sections of the Foreigners Act and the Passport Act as they had entered the Indian borders without legally valid documents.
"If the agencies find the drugs packed in sealed sacks from the sea, then the accused will also be booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act," said the officer, adding: "During primary questioning, the accused revealed that the drugs were loaded from Pishukan in Gwadar district of Balochistan province in Pakistan. It was meant to be delivered to Punjab."
The officer said, "A man named Rahid Baloch had assigned the crew the task of delivering the drugs. The owner of the boat was a Baloch citizen named Mohammed Wasim who gave the boat Al Noman to Shahab Baloch and Rahid," said the police officer.
The police officer said that the captain of the boat was promised Rs 2 lakh while the six crew members were to get Rs 50,000 for the job.
"The crew members were told to contact the local receiver off Gujarat coast through a VHF (very high frequency) set. However, Gujarat ATS got an input regarding suspicious drug smuggling activity, following which a coast guard ship chased the boat and apprehended the crew," said an ATS officer.
The cops are yet to find out details of the local receivers from Gujarat who were supposed to collect the drugs and how the consignment would be sent to the drugs mafia of Punjab.