Coast Guard seizes 300 kg of drugs worth Rs 3000 crore from Lankan boat

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About 300 kg of drugs, valued at Rs 3,000 crore in the international market, and five AK-47 rifles with 1000 live rounds have been seized by the Coast Guard from a Sri Lankan boat off Minicoy in Lakshadweep, sources said on Thursday. This is the second major anti-drug trafficking operation undertaken by the CG on the West Coast of India within a fortnight.

The seizure was effected on March 18.

The Coast Guard, which had intercepted three suspicious boats off Minicoy last week, had recovered the high grade heroin, rifles and ammunition from one of them, a defence press release said today.

"The estimated value of narcotics in the International market is approximately Rs 3,000 crore.All the three boats with 19 crew have been brought to Vizhinjam here (today) for further joint investigation," it said.

On March 5, the CG had intercepted a Lankan boat off Minicoy with six crew members.

They had admitted carrying 200 kg of heroin and 60 kg of Hashish,which was jettisoned at sea on sighting the coast guard ships on patrol, the release said.

In a similar operation in November last year, the CG had seized a Lankan boat off Kanyakumari, with 120 kg of narcoitcs worth approximately Rs 1,000 crore and five weapons.

During the past one year, the coast guard had seized about 1.6 ton of narcotics worth approximatelyRs 4,900 crore, the release said, addingthe total drug haul done by the CG since inception amounted to Rs 10,952 crore.

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