Narcotics boat and vessel blown up on 31 Dec had the same handlers: intel agencies

A Pakistani boat seized from near Porbandar, from which narcotics worth around Rs 600 crore was seized, had the same handlers as those of the boat which blew up on the night of 31 December - 1 January, according to intelligence agencies.

The suspicious boat carrying narcotics was seized in a joint operation by the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard on 20 April.

The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) had been monitoring satellite and mobile phones in the case of the narcotics boat. In fact, the boat had been successfully intercepted because of recorded conversations from Karachi and those of the handlers based in Thailand, according to Indian Express .

“The phone numbers in Karachi and Thailand were kept on constant interception mode during the three months between” the seizing of the boat with narcotics onboard on 20 April and the incident in which a boat was blown up on the night of 31 December, the report added.

However, the chatter picked up by NTRO by the monitoring of satellite and mobile phones does not indicate the destination of the recovered contraband or the nationality of the handlers, it said.

The incident on the night of 31 December took place when a Pakistani boat being chased by the Indian Coast Guard was allegedly set on fire by the people onboard and then blown allegedly blown itself up.

The incident had sparked controversy amid doubts that the boat had actually blown itself up. These were exacerbated when Coast Guard DIG BK Loshali contradicted the government’s official position and had said that it was actually the Coast Guard which had blown up the boat.

Pakistan, had on Wednesday raised the issue of the latest arrest, and had sought details of the incident.

(With inputs from PTI)