The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has confirmed that the drugs worth Rs. 25,000 crore seized from a large vessel near the Kerala coast in Kochi in a joint operation by the NCB and Indian Navy on Saturday came from Pakistan.

The NCB said the narcotic drug was seized from Pakistan-based Haji Salim drug cartel. The drug was wrapped in a cover made in Pakistan. A Pakistan national, Zubair Derakshande was arrested in connection with the drug bust.

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The NCB had seized over 2,500 kilograms of methamphetamine from a vessel near the Kerala coast on Saturday. It said it was the largest seizure of methamphetamine in the country and initially valued at Rs 12 000 crore. “Upon our inspection, we found that the quality of the seized contraband is very high. Currently, the estimated street value of the drugs are at around Rs 25,000 crore,” said an NCB official.

NCB officials said the drug was seized from a “mother ship” in the operation carried out as part of ‘Operation Samudragupt’ which targeted maritime trafficking of drugs originating from Afghanistan. According to NCB, a mother ship is a large vessel carrying huge quantities of narcotics for distribution to receiving boats along the route.

With the navy following, the ship was diverted to the international channel and   then it sank in the sea. It is suspected that the sunken ship had four tons of drugs. It is being verified whether it sank in Indian waters or in an international shipping channel.

The NCB confirms that the Haji Salim network is behind the drug trafficking.  The investigation about the links in India is in progress.

As many as 134 sacks of suspected methamphetamine, the intercepted boat and some other items salvaged from the ship along with the Pakistani national were brought to Mattancherry Wharf and handed over by the Navy to the NCB. The drugs were kept in 2,800 boxes of one kilogram each. The boxes were waterproofed in three layers.

The arrested Pakistani national Zubair admitted to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) that the sunken ‘mother ship’ contained drugs manufactured in labs at Jiwani in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. He said that there were six Pakistanis with him in the mother ship.