The Indian Coast Guard on Tuesday said its personnel had intercepted and seized a Pakistani vessel carrying suspected narcotics on the Indian side of the International Maritime Border Line.

Additional Director General of the Coast Guard VSR Murthy told PTI that the Coast Guard had received inputs from the National Technical Research Organisation and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence about a Pakistani ship trying to enter Indian waters.

The Coast Guard then deployed a fast patrol vessel, Aranjay, two interceptor boats and an aircraft for scanning the sea, Murthy said. On Tuesday, the Coast Guard intercepted ‘Al-Madina’, a Pakistani fishing trawler, eight nautical miles inside Indian waters off the Jakhau coast.

Defence Public Relations Officer Puneet Chadha said the crew members threw several bags into the sea before being taken into custody, PTI reported. Coast Guard personnel managed to retrieve seven bags.

Al Madina, which was registered at Karachi, had six Pakistani crew members, who have been taken into custody. “An initial search of the fishing boat by Indian Coast Guard boarding party revealed 194 packets of suspected narcotics substance,” the statement said. “The vessel is being escorted to Jakhau harbour for detailed investigation and rummaging.”

The Coast Guard had deployed a ship, dornier aircraft and two fast interceptor boats to intercept the vessel.

A report in The Indian Express said that a preliminary testing on one of packets indicated that the substance seized could be worth Rs 400 to Rs 500 crore.

On March 24, Indian Coast Guard ship Rajratan in collaboration with the anti-terrorism squad seized about 100 kgs of heroin from a suspected Pakistani dhow near Gujarat. The Coast Guard personnel had apprehended nine Iranian crew members who were on that vessel.