Mid-Day
Mumbai, Jun 5: The 200 kilos of cocaine seized on Saturday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port was meant for the super rich, according to officials from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
The cocaine was extremely pure, and would have been mixed with substances such as glucose, chalk and urea to create up to 600 kilos of the drug. It would then have been sold for a whopping Rs 5,000 per gramme.
Canvas bags filled with cocaine were found hidden among wooden logs on the ship
“The quality of the cocaine indicates that it was meant for the very rich, ” explained Om Prakash, deputy director general of the NCB.
The NCB also arrested three Indians for smuggling the cocaine on the ship, MV Voyager, which had set sail from Guayaquil port in Ecuador. The cocaine was to be supplied to all parts of the country from Mumbai.
Eight ports
The ship set sail from Ecuador and stopped at eight international ports before arriving in Mumbai. Though the cocaine was stashed in ordinary canvas bags placed between wooden logs, the ship was not stopped once.
The NCB had been tracking the ship for three weeks. Officers said that the owners Maerskline were not aware that the ship was being used to carry cocaine.
SHIP’S ROUTE
- Guayaquil port, Ecuador
- Balbao Port, Panama
- Hong Kong
- Yokohama, Japan
- Shanghai and Yantain, China
- Malaysia
- Mumbai