Ahmedabad, Oct 1 A court here on Thursday sent five Pakistani nationals arrested in the Rs 3000 crore drug haul to 12-day police remand.
The five were held on September 25 from an an Iranian boat 'Azad' in the Arabian Sea with 526 kilograms of methamphetamine and heroin valued at more than Rs 3,000 crore. The vessel was intercepted around 160 nautical miles northwest of Lakshadweep and about 490 nautical miles southwest of Mumbai.
Additional chief metropolitan magistrate HJ Gadhvi remanded Mohammad Yakub Balochi, Shakirullah, Faridullah, Ahmed Khan and Wahidullah Khan, all residents of Peshawar in Pakistan, in police custody till October 13.
The ATS had sought 14-day remand, but the court granted them remand for 12 days, an official said.
The operation was carried out jointly by Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad and Indian Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard carried out sea-air surveillance and tracked the suspicious vessel based on actionable intelligence shared by the Gujarat ATS and central intelligence agencies, the ATS said.
The intelligence input indicated that a Nigerian national had recently met a wanted Gujarat-based accused and they had planned to smuggle more than 500 kg of methamphetamine and heroin from Iran into India.
Advance funds for the operation were allegedly routed through hawala channels, while the smugglers planned to avoid the Gujarat coastline and offload the consignment at sea, it said.
The vessel's crew and the seized drugs were brought to Mumbai under armed escort for joint interrogation and further legal proceedings.
As per the preliminary investigation, the contraband was supposed to land on the Tamil Nadu coast after taking delivery mid-sea.
According to the ATS, the boat had departed from near Konarak port in Iran. While passing off Gwadar in Pakistan, smugglers aboard a smaller boat transferred the contraband onto the Iranian vessel.
