By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Bhubaneswar Customs seizes more than 20 kg of cocaine valued at approx.Rs. 220 crores at Paradip Port in Odisha.
A total of 22 kg of such drugs valued at around Rs. 220 crore in the international grey market was recovered. All the crew members working on -board the ship are from Vietnam. The ship is registered in Panama and is operated by the Asia Pacific Shipping Co Ltd.
The suspected ship is having its last port of call from Gresik Port, Indonesia and destined to Denmark. The suspected cocaine samples are to be sent to government laboratory to ascertain the exact nature and chemical composition of the goods. Further rummaging and searching of the ship with the help of sniffer dogs is underway.
Based on intelligence that few suspected packets, likely to be Narcotics drugs are concealed in aPanama registered Ship, namely, MV Debi berthed at Paradip International Cargo Terminal, Paradip, that had arrived from Gresik port, Indonesia in ballast, the Customs officers of the Bhubaneswar Customs (preventive) Commissionerate searched the ship on midnight of30.11.2023 and on 1.12.2023.
During the search, a total of 22 packets (wrapped and affixed with magnet) were recovered from the cranes of the ship containing a hardened but brittle white substance suspected to be narcotic drugs. Initial testing by the Special Intelligence and Investigation (SIIB) team of theBhubaneswar Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate revealed that the substance is possibly Cocaine, a narcotic drug under the NDPS Act 1985.
