The Indian Coast Guard said Wednesday it had seized 526 kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine worth more than 3,000 crore rupees on the international illicit market from an Iranian dhow intercepted west of Lakshadweep, with five Pakistani nationals aboard taken into custody.
From intelligence to boarding
Officials said the interdiction took place on September 25 after coordinated surveillance by Coast Guard ships and aircraft, acting on intelligence shared with the Gujarat ATS that a transnational syndicate was moving contraband toward the Indian coast. Maritime units tracked the dhow, launched a hot pursuit and boarded it at sea, the service said in a statement.
The dhow, its crew and the seized drugs were escorted under armed guard to Mumbai for joint interrogation and multi-agency legal proceedings, the Coast Guard added. Gujarat ATS officials confirmed the five crew members were in custody and said they planned a media briefing on the operation later Wednesday.
Scale of the haul
The contraband mix of high-grade methamphetamine and heroin ranks among the larger maritime drug seizures announced by Indian agencies in recent years. The Coast Guard highlighted a similar Gujarat ATS-linked operation in April 2025 that netted 307.5 kilograms of narcotics off the Gujarat coast, part of a pattern of interdictions along Arabian Sea routes that rely on vessel tracking and cross-agency tip lines.
What investigators want next
Enforcement officials in Mumbai will focus on tracing financing links, shore contacts and whether the shipment was destined for Indian distribution networks or transshipment elsewhere. The government has promoted coordinated narcotics action under its Nasha Mukt Bharat campaign, and Wednesday’s announcement framed the bust as disrupting foreign syndicates using India’s maritime approaches.
Prosecutors have not publicly identified the crew members or specified charges, which typically include provisions against narcotics trafficking in cases handled with Gujarat ATS. Further court steps are expected after forensic testing of the seized packages and recorded statements from those aboard the vessel.
Coast Guard commanders said sea-air teams maintained tracking for an extended period before the boarding, a tactic officials credit with preventing smaller craft from offloading cargo near the Lakshadweep archipelago. Agencies along the western seaboard have stepped up patrol density this year as synthetic opioids and methamphetamine seizures have risen in port-city enforcement statistics.