Ahmedabad, February 22 The Indian Coast Guard has intercepted a foreign vessel in the Arabian Sea off Gujarat and apprehended four Iranian nationals after seizing 200 cartons of foreign brand cigarettes worth nearly Rs 5 crore, the ICG said on Sunday.
The operation took place on Saturday off the Dwarka coast, where a vessel, identified as Al Mukhtar and manned by four Iranian crew, was found concealing 200 cartons containing approximately one lakh packets of foreign brand cigarettes.
The estimated international market value of the consignment is between Rs 2.5 crore and Rs 5 crore, the ICG said in a post on X.
The boat was being escorted to Porbandar in Gujarat for further investigation and joint interrogation of the crew by security agencies, it added.
"On February 21, the @IndiaCoastGuard ship intercepted a suspicious foreign vessel inside the #Indian #EEZ, approximately 115 NM west of #Dwarka. The vessel, identified as Al Mukhtar, was manned by four #Iranian crew. After searching, 200 cartons containing approximately one lakh packets of foreign brand cigarettes were discovered concealed in the holds," it said.
Earlier, the ICG and Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) jointly apprehended two Iranian nationals with over 200 kg of suspicious narcotics off the Gujarat coast on February 16.
