Samudragupt ops: 2,500 kg contraband drugs worth Rs 12,000 cr seized in Indian waters

The initial success of the operation called 'Samudragupt' was achieved in the month of February 2022 when a joint team of NCB and Indian Navy seized 529 kg of Hashish, 221 kg of Methamphetamine and 13 kg of Heroin in the high seas off the coast of Gujarat, all sourced from Balochistan and Afghanistan.

One suspected Pakistani national was also detained. The seizure part of 'Operation Samudragupt' targeted the maritime trafficking of drugs originating from Afghanistan.

Further consistent efforts and round-the-clock surveillance by the team resulted in the interception of an Iranian boat off the coast of Kerala in a joint operation by NCB and Indian Navy in the month of October 2022.

A total of 200kg of high grade Heroin sourced from Afghanistan was seized and six Iranian drug traffickers were arrested in the operation.

Apart from these operations enforced by NCB and Indian Navy, NCB also shared real-time actionable information generated during the course of Operation Samudragupt with Sri Lanka and Maldives.

These inputs resulted in the seizure of 286kg of Heroin and 128kg of Methamphetamine with the arrest of 19 drug traffickers in two operations conducted by the Sri Lankan Navy in the months of December 2022 and April 2023 and 4kg of Heroin with the arrest of 5 drug traffickers by Maldivian Police in March 2023.

Appreciating the threat to national security emanating from maritime trafficking of Heroin and other drugs over the maritime route in the Indian Ocean region, the Director General, NCB launched Operation Samudragupt headed by Sanjay Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General (Ops), NCB and comprising officers of Operations Branch of NCB Headquarters in January 2022.

The primary objective of the operation was to collect actionable inputs which could lead to interdiction of ships carrying narcotics contraband.

For this task, the team exchanged and gathered information from drug law enforcement agencies such as DRI, ATS Gujarat and intelligence agencies such as Intelligence Wing of Indian Navy, NTRO etc. (ANI)