Cocaine worth ₹220 cr seized from Indonesian ship at Paradip port in Odisha
The Indonesian bulk carrier named MV Debi anchored at the Paradip International Cargo Terminal was on its way to Denmark
Bhubaneswar: Officers from the Odisha Police, the Central Industrial Security Force (CIDSF) and Customs have seized 22 kg of cocaine worth ₹220 crore from an Indonesian cargo ship that had anchored at Paradip Port in Odisha.
Customs officials in Bhubaneswar said an Indonesian bulk carrier named MV Debi, which had anchored at Paradip International Cargo Terminal berth on Wednesday was on its way to Denmark to pick up steel plates. On Thursday, a crane operator working on the ship noticed some suspicious packets on the vessel and informed the authorities who came with a dog squad, raided the ship and seized the packets.
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“At first, the packets looked like an explosive device. But after they scanned the packets, it was revealed that it was drugs concealed in small rectangular packets. We did a preliminary narcotics test, which confirmed the contents to be cocaine. We seized the packets and have sent the sample for further test in a government laboratory,” said Madhab Chandra Mishra, commissioner of customs in Bhubaneswar.
A kg of cocaine is worth ₹10 crore in the international market.
Mishra said the crew members of the vessel would be questioned about the cocaine and further arrests were likely to be made.
