Myanmarese vessel with 6 crew members apprehended with contraband near Little Andaman

The Indian Coast Guard has apprehended a Myanmarese vessel with six crew members on board with banned contraband, totalling over 300 kilograms near Little Andaman Islands.

In a swift sea-air coordinated operation, the Coast Guard said that its ship 'Aruna Asaf Ali' sighted the Myanmarese ship 'CG Dornier' operating east of Little Andaman on December 20 noon.

"The vessel was not responding on VHF. ICGS Aruna Asaf Ali, on patrol, was diverted for investigation. At about 6 pm on December 20, Aruna Asaf Ali sighted the boat 125 nautical miles from the nearest land, Little Andaman. The vessel failed to stop on being challenged by the ship," it said.

After firing three warning shots in the air, the Myanmarese vessel was stopped. The Coast Guard's ship boarding party embarked on the seized ship and found out that the vessel was of Myanmarese origin with six crew members on board.

"Since the vessel was plying in Indian waters carrying unidentified items suspected of being contraband, the vessel was apprehended along with its crew," said the Coast Guard.

A total of 250 packets weighing approximately one kilogram each and 106 packets weighing approximately 500 grams each were recovered. The total weight of the contraband was 303 kilograms, it said.

"Each packet contains a suspicious white crystalline substance. The ship carried out a preliminary investigation with the available drug detection kit and found that the substance is banned drug methaqualone. Further, the crew failed to produce any supporting document," the Coast Guard added.

The Coast Guard ship proceeded to Port Blair along with the apprehended vessel and crew on Sunday morning. A preliminary investigation was carried out and it was reported that the substance is believed to be banned drug methaqualone.

In the last three months, this is the second catch of contraband during an independent operation conducted by Coast Guard at sea in Andaman and Nicobar region.

( With inputs from ANI )