Bhubaneswar: In a major drug haul, cocaine worth Rs 220 crore was seized from a ship at the Paradip port. Twenty-two suspicious packets were spotted in a crane on the ship anchored at the Paradip International Cargo Terminal (PICT) on Thursday night.
The Customs Department officials has got an intelligence input that few suspected packets, likely to be Narcotics drugs are concealed in a Panama 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 whole last night and recovered 22 packets (wrapped and affixed with magnet) 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 the Bhubaneswar Customs revealed that the substance is possibly Cocaine, a narcotic drug under the NDPS Act 1985.
A total of 22 kg of such drugs valued at around Rs 220 crore in the international grey market was recovered, Customs officials said.
All the crew members working onboard 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 a 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. The search is expected to be over by tomorrow.
No one has been arrested so far in connection with the seizures, but the crew members of the ship have been detained, sources said.